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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Cliap..„.rL Copyright No. 

Slielf..i„S>..i4- 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
in 2011 witii funding from 
Tine Library of Congress 



littp://www.arcliive.org/details/deepwatervoyageOOstev 



DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 



BY/ 

PAUL EVE STEVENSON 




A. 



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PHILADELPHIA 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
1897 



K 



G-sso 



Copyright, 1897, 

BY 

J. B. LippiNcoTT Company. 



TO 



MY WIFE, 



WHOSE KEEN ENJOYMENT OF THE VOYAGE ADDED 

NOT A LITTLE TO MY OWN PLEASURE, 

/ AND TO 

WHOSE SUGGESTIONS IS DUE MUCH OF WHATEVER 

INTEREST THE READER MAY FIND 

IN THESE PAGES. 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 



For a number of years it had been my keen ambi- 
tion to make a deep-water voyage, and several times 
I was on the point of starting to California via the 
Horn ; but just as I had determined upon a vessel, 
something deterred me each time. At length, after 
my friends had professed the belief many times that 
I never would go to sea, and that it was merely a 
bluff on my part, I determined that, come what 
would, to sea I should go, and after some little dif- 
ficulty persuaded my wife that it would be of incal- 
culable benefit to her health ; so that she finally de- 
cided to try not the Cape Horn voyage, but the 
passage to the East round the Cape of Good Hope. 
For many weeks I cast about me to find not only a 
suitable vessel, but an agreeable and gentlemanly 
skipper. For taking one's wife to sea is a vastly 
different affair from going alone and putting up with 
whatever may happen along. How disagreeable for 
one's wife it would be to sail with a skipper who 
proved to be an obdurate, bad-tempered man, who 
resorted to blows for the men upon every occasion, 
or who called down sea-blessings by the fathom upon 
the head of the second mate because the mizzen- 
royal-yard was braced in an eighth of an inch too 
much ! Therefore, I took extraordinary pains to 
find an agreeable man to sail with ; and after endless 

5 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

delays a friend of mine in one of the great trans- 
atlantic companies advised me to call on a certain 
Captain Kingdon, of the British ship " Mandalore," 
which was then discharging a cargo at Pier 40, East 
River, Thither I went, and, upon stepping over the 
side and asking for the skipper, a tall, gray-bearded 
man came forward and introduced himself as Cap- 
tain Kingdon. Upon making known my errand, he 
asked me to step below and talk the matter over. 
It did not take me long to discover by his accent 
that he was not an Englishman, so I took him for a 
Nova Scotian; but, on asking him where he was 
from, he answered, " From Rhode Island." I never 
was more surprised in my Hfe than to find an Ameri- 
can in charge of a British vessel ; later on I found 
that he had been sailing under the English flag for 
a little more than thirty years. However, we went 
below to the cabin, where we finally agreed that, 
should my wife fancy the accommodations, he would 
take us to Calcutta, whither the " Mandalore" was 
bound with a cargo of case oil. On the following 
day my wife and I scanned very closely every part 
of the ship ; and after some little time a bargain was 
struck, the passage-money paid, and at last we 
seemed upon the eve of departure on the long- 
deferred deep-water voyage. 

A short description of the " Mandalore" would, I 
believe, interest those who are going to follow us 
over thirteen thousand miles of blue water ; and so 
for their benefit I will explain that she was an iron 
ship of sixteen hundred and ninety-nine net tons, 
two hundred and sixty-five feet from stem to taffrail, 

6 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

thirty-nine feet beam, and when loaded to the Plim- 
soll mark drew twenty-three feet of water. Her 
spars were uncommonly straight and very lofty, and 
she crossed three sky-sail-yards. In fact, so tall and 
erect were her masts that, the hull being out of sight, 
you would have called her an American, till her iron 
sides and round stern proclaimed her a Britisher. 
The accommodations aft were particularly engaging. 
The cabin or saloon was the best ventilated, airiest 
apartment I ever saw aboard a sailing-ship, — a for- 
tunate circumstance, as we afterward frequently ac- 
knowledged. There was only one spare room on 
board, and it was small and stuffy ; so the skipper 
said he would give us the mate's room, a fairly large 
berth with two ports, — one in the ship's side and one 
looking out forward on the main-deck. We fixed 
the room up a little by the purchase of a rug for the 
floor, a new mattress, etc.; and by the time the 
" Mandalore" had loaded sixty-seven thousand five 
hundred cases of oil at Bayonne, we were ready for 
sea as well, having laid in a good supply of rubber 
coats and boots, and clothing for the icy blasts of 
forty degrees south as well as suitable attire for the 
tropics. Many advised us to provide immense quan- 
tities of tinned meats and delicacies with which to 
regale ourselves at sea. We disregarded this ; and 
what we did take consisted of a barrel of bottled 
beer, a couple of cases of wine, and two dozen tins 
of preserved fruits. Indeed, had we taken our friends' 
advice, one thousand dollars would not have sufficed 
to purchase the incredible amount of canned pro- 
visions they would have us buy. " Without these 

7 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

things, you will really starve at sea," said these wise 
men. But I had overhauled the contents of the 
store-room and paid little heed to all well-meant 
suggestions. But this was not all ; nearly every one, 
particularly my wife's friends, predicted, with dismal 
groanings, harrowing episodes that would constantly 
occur. "We would die of heat on the line;" or 
" fire would annihilate the ship ; who ever heard of 
going on such a voyage with a cargo of oil any- 
way ?" or " we would fall ill and perish for want of 
a physician's care." This beautiful panorama was 
unrolled before us ; and when we persisted, people 
began to express pity for my wife, considering me a 
heartless wretch. 

A telegram from Captain Kingdon, however, an- 
nounced that the " Mandalore" was lying off Staple- 
ton, Staten Island, with crew shipped, and that she 
would go to sea next day. 

June 29 

I chartered a tug-boat this afternoon and took a 
party of relatives and friends down to the ship to see 
us off. They all admired the " Mandalore," and ex- 
pressed the belief that she must be the finest ship that 
sails out of New York. Each had the countenance 
of a grave-digger, though, and I feared a scene, till a 
happy diversion arose that checked the impending 
rush of tears. I had brought along a favorite pet, a 
West African monkey that had already accompanied 
me on various outings, while my wife consoled her- 
self with a fat Maltese cat. These two animals had 
not seen each other as yet ; but Pete, taking a fancy 

8 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

to the cat's looks, dropped artfully upon her from a 
considerable height, producing such a disturbance 
that every one roared with laughter, which continued 
till the cat, freeing herself with a piercing cry, fled 
below. Nor could we ever after, throughout the 
voyage, persuade it on the poop again. 

To my great annoyance, Captain Kingdon was not 
aboard. I had wanted every one to see the com- 
mander of the vessel that was to be our abode for 
perhaps as long as five months, and his absence was 
a disappointment to all of us. Before we said fare- 
well I proposed the customary drinking of healths ; 
so I summoned the steward and made the discovery 
that he too had been concerned about the health of 
several friends, as he was very voluble and inclined 
to b^ sociable. This, I fear, made a very bad impres- 
sion on most of our guests, and I longed more than 
ever for the skipper. 

By this time darkness was closing in, and the time 
was at hand for the lugubrious leave-takings. When 
we emerged from the saloon, lo ! a thick fog had 
enveloped the bay in an impenetrable cloud, and a 
more wretched scene than that on deck can hardly 
be conceived. Everything forward of the main-mast 
was blotted out, while each yard and spar dripped 
with moisture, and the air was filled with the harsh 
voices of scores of steam-whistles sending forth their 
raucous notes of danger. We were in the midst of 
bidding each other a long farewell when the big 
ship's bell, under the top-gallant-forecastle, com- 
menced to give its note of warning, sounding singu- 
larly like a funeral dirge rung for our dismal parting. 

9 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Finally, every one but ourselves scrambled over the 
gangway to the tug's deck-house, we heard the gong 
sound in the engine-room, and the tug backed rapidly 
away from us, disappearing completely in less than a 
minute. 

We had scarcely time to collect our thoughts, 
when the supper-bell rang, and we went below to 
our first meal on board. The mate, Frederick Ryan, 
from St, John, New Brunswick, presided at the table. 
He could not stem the current of the steward's 
ceaseless flow of language, and desisted after two or 
three attempts. It was a dreary meal, and I was 
glad to escape on deck, where the fog was thicker 
than ever. Being very weary, we decided to turn in 
at once, and down we went forthwith. My wife had 
a spell of weeping, which was, perhaps, natural. We 
had not been long below when we noticed several 
small, red, movable spots on the walls and ceiling, 
which turned out to be wee cockroaches, not so large 
as croton-bugs. We slew all in sight, then reluc- 
tantly blew out the lamp, and in five minutes all 
remembrance of the voyage had faded away. 

June 30 

This morning at nine Captain Kingdon came off 
in a tug-boat, and with him the pilot. I got myself 
up in my sea-rig, which was a jumper and trousers 
made of stout, white canvas, such as yacht crews wear 
before eight bells in the morning. There was but 
little wind, and it was still thick ; but before long I 
saw the men unship the capstan-bars from the rack 
in the forward end of the midship deck-house, and 

10 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

shortly after the clanking of the windlass pawls told 
us that the anchor was slowly coming in, and soon 
the tug had taughtened the hawser that led over 
the bows, and we were at last heading for the Hook. 
Disappointment was in keeping for us, though, and 
we had to let go the anchor in the Horseshoe ; for 
the wind was up and down the mast, and nothing was 
to be gained by towing to sea in this weather. A 
heavy thunder-squall broke over us in the afternoon, 
accompanied by a strong nor'west wind. It passed 
in half an hour, and a flat calm ensued. 

The pilot was an agreeable individual, with numer- 
ous yarns to spin, which he told with some gusto. 
He mentioned later an illustration of the stupendous 
force exerted by a heavy sea. " There," said he, " do 
you see those bitts ?" pointing to the quarter-bitts, at 
least nine inches in diameter. " The last time I took 
the ' Umbria' in, a sea carried away bitts the size of 
those on the steamer's forecastle-head." It was truly 
marvellous to think of The pilot seemed to think 
that taking the monkey to sea was the most remark- 
able thing he ever heard of " I have seen hundreds 
of monkeys brought into New York," he remarked, 
" but, by Crimus, that's the first one that ever left it 
on a sailing-ship." 

July i 

Another tug came down to the ship this morning 
and passed us her hawser. Once more we hove up 
the anchor, not to touch bottom again, we hope, till 
we let go at Calcutta, in four months or so. Towing 
out was very slow work, and it was two or three 

II 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

hours before we were abreast of Sandy Hook light- 
ship, where the tug was to leave us. Meanwhile we 
made all sail, including the three sky-sails ; so that 
when the tow-boat blew several short blasts as a 
signal to us to cast off, we were going ahead at five 
knots or so. The pilot immediately went over the 
side, shouting " Good luck to you ;" the little tug 
sheered off, blew three whistles as a farewell, and we 
were left alone to fight our way to the other side of 
the world, with nothing but the faithless winds to 
help us on our journey. 

I think the first sensation on being thus deserted 
is helplessness. You see the tug-boat steaming 
whither she will of her own volition ; a shift of the 
helm ever so little, and she turns to starboard or port, 
or backs and goes ahead with no apparent effort. 
Then you turn to the ship on whose deck you stand, 
and watch how slowly she forges ahead, braced 
sharp up on the starboard tack, and depending solely 
upon the very light, southerly breeze for propulsion. 
The feeling is but momentary, however, and gives 
place to an appreciation of the stately beauty of the 
vessel, as she creeps, leaning ever so slightly to the 
southerly wind, straight out into the East. There is 
no fierce pulsation of triple-expansion machinery 
here; and no grimy stokers come up gasping and 
blear-eyed to catch a breath or two of cool air. 
There is no perceptible movement ; and were you to 
close your eyes, it would be hard for you to believe 
that you were at sea ; for the ocean is as level as a 
floor, and not even the faintest courtesy has broken 
the steady way of the ship. 

12 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

July 2 

To-day broke gloriously, with a perfect tempera- 
ture and a cloudless sky. The thermometer has 
been in the neighborhood of 77° in our cabin since 
we left, and we are in high feather at so auspicious 
a beginning. The ship's carpenter, a good-natured 
Norwegian, made Pete a comfortable box out of a 
packing-case, covering the front with laths. I could 
not bring myself to leave Pete behind ; and as he is 
hardy, I have little doubt but that he will finish the 
voyage as he began it. Each of the men has a kind 
word for him when relieving the wheel, which bears 
out the well-known fondness all sailors have for pets. 
I have made Pete fast to a ring in the flag-locker on 
the poop, where he has abundance of room to jump 
about without being in people's way. The large sky- 
light over the saloon is made almost wholly of frosted 
glass, except a narrow, clear strip near the edges of 
each pane. To this strip Pete fixes his eyes when 
we go below to meals, nor does he for an instant 
remove them while we are at the table. And should 
you happen to glance upward, nothing is visible but 
the monk's two bright little eyes fixed with yearning 
gaze upon the dish of smoking potatoes. 

As I said before, the course was about east and 
the wind at south-southeast. About five in the 
afternoon it freshened, and we slipped along at seven 
or eight knots. The men appear to be a cheerful 
lot, and there is plenty of singing out at the ropes 
when the watch tail on to the braces. From what I 
have so far observed, the starboard watch (the second 
mate's) seem a better set of men than those in 

13 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the mate's. But I can form a better idea later on 
when there is a sudden call of haul down and clew 
up. 

The nights are very damp and the decks wet with 
dew, and they are surprisingly slippery in conse- 
quence. The wind during the evening backed a 
little to the westward, so as to enable us to ease up 
the weather braces, and we are sliding along a point 
or so free. Course by standard compass is nearly 
east by south, or southeast by east quarter east by 
steering compass. 

July 3 

To-day broke with lowering clouds and Hght rain. 
A faint breeze blew over the starboard beam, giving 
us about six knots. After breakfast the rain in- 
creased considerably and began to show signs of 
being an all-day affair, as, indeed, it turned out to be. 
The sea increased in proportion to the wind, and by 
noon had assumed a very respectable size. At that hour 
we were two hundred and ninety-one miles by dead 
reckoning east by south of Sandy Hook, on the edge 
of the Gulf Stream. For this season of the year we 
have made an uncommonly good offing, the south- 
west wind having stood by us splendidly. By the 
first dog-watch there was a pretty strong wind blow- 
ing, and at six we furled the fore- and mizzen-sky- 
sails. The rain was exceedingly disagreeable and 
the motion violent; so that my wife kept her bunk 
all day, miserably sea-sick. At 6.30, the wind still 
freshening, the main-sky-sail and all three royals 
were stowed, as well as the outer jib. This left us 

14 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

under pretty snug rig for the night, and away we 
went reaching along over the head sea that was 
running in a way that warmed your heart. Half an 
hour later we carried away the lee maintop-gallant- 
sheet ; so took in the sail and made it fast. Not 
long after parted the lee upper maintop-sail-brace ; 
this is the second that has gone so far, the weather 
mizzen-sky-sail-brace having parted yesterday. It 
was a nasty evening up to 9,30, when the rain stopped 
and the weather cleared up, showing us a steamer's 
mast-head light close aboard. Some of the men lost 
their heads and rushed aft, singing out, in a life-or- 
death voice, " Light on the weather beam, captain ; 
light on the weather beam !" " Shut up and go 
for'rad," said the skipper, embellishing his order with 
quite a selection of deep-sea blessings. It was rather 
alarining to see the steamer so close aboard, though 
I didn't think that the men would have lost their 
heads as they did. She shifted her helm a little and 
easily cleared us. 

The excellence of the cooking and eating on 
board are matters of considerable surprise to me; 
but the ice still holds out and we have plenty of 
fresh beef left, which we all devoutly wish would 
last at least to the Cape. A peep in at the galley- 
door disclosed a swarthy Philippine islander, bending 
over the smoking coppers. As a sea-cook he is a 
very good success, and his galley he keeps like a 
drawing-room. The copper utensils are hung all 
together in a row against the bulkhead, with the iron 
and tin ones below, all shining brightly in quite a 
dazzling phalanx ; while the tiled floor and even the 

15 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

stove itself were 3s spotless as the hardest kind of 
scrubbing and rubbing could make them. 

July 4 

Independence Day! It broke rainy, with strong 
winds and sea. At nine o'clock, the weather moder- 
ating, we set the three royals, and not long afterward 
the main-sky-sail. I was fortunate enough to be able 
to persuade my wife to come on deck shortly before 
noon. She had been very ill for two days, in bed 
continuously. One of the ports in our room leaked 
miserably, and the water that percolated through 
ran down inside the ceiling, making a large pool on 
the floor. The latter is not varnished, as the cabin 
floor is, but is holystoned; and, indeed, I think it 
looks much nicer than if shellaced, except that the 
water, as soon as it touches the bare wood, soaks 
through ; so that, even when mopped up to the last 
drop, the planks are still saturated. No one who has 
not lived in a small room at sea can appreciate the 
exceeding discomfort ensuing. I was, therefore, par- 
ticularly glad to get my wife out of the dingy cavern 
into the strong, pure air on deck. By supper-time 
she had altogether recovered health and spirits ; and 
all of us drank to the day, the country, and the 
voyage in fizzing glasses of Ruinart Brut. I dare 
say that it is but seldom that this wine is drunk 
under these conditions; nor can I say that warm 
champagne (the ice has vanished) is as pleasing a 
tipple as when it issues forth half congealed from the 
mouth of the bottle. 

We make an agreeable company at meals, entirely 
16 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

free, as may be well imagined, from shore-going for- 
malities. The gray-whiskered skipper, dignified and 
affable, graces the head of the table, and continu- 
ously regales us with narratives of his early adven- 
tures by land and sea. He is particularly prolific in 
his accounts of his experiences in Madagascar and 
on the north side of Java. On his right sits my 
wife, much interested in the skipper's yarns. She 
assails the rigid slab of cold salt beef that the cap- 
tain helps her to in so resolute a manner that I can- 
not but think that I did a wise thing in bringing her 
to sea. Of course, I sit next to my wife ; while op- 
posite to me glows the merry, very boyish face of 
the mate, Mr. Ryan. When I am alone with him, 
helping him to pass away the four hours of his watch 
on deck, he is remarkably loquacious; but in the 
presence of the skipper no word does he utter unless 
spoken to. In fact. Captain Kingdon does much to 
extinguish what little conversation he started with ; 
so that the discourse is limited to us three. 

For the enlightenment of those whose misfortune 
it is to make land-tacks all their lives, I must give 
an idea of what we live on at sea, which will be a 
surprise perhaps to those who have given no thought 
to the subject. For dinner we have mutton- or beef- 
broth (tinned, of course) and the best of all kinds of 
preserved meats and vegetables : boned chicken and 
pressed tongue and corned beef; haricots verts and 
French pease; capital juicy huckleberry-pie and rice- 
pudding. Breakfast and supper generally consist of 
broiled ham and rice- or batter-cakes, with preserves. 
I must not forget the live-stock on board, which 
2 17 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

affords the only fresh meat we can have. We took 
six dozen fowls to sea with us, and they are in a 
cage up forward of the main-hatch. We have a 
roasted chicken every Sunday and Thursday. These 
birds, though, like some people, have seen better 
days. They are put in the oven at daylight, and at 
noon taken out and served up nicely browned on the 
outside. Therein lies the deceit. For within is con- 
cealed a fowl of such astonishing resistance as to 
baffle all attempts at mastication. The flesh is like 
sugar-cane chaff after the juice has been expressed. 
When we came on board the steward observed that 
they were a nice lot of spring chickens ; so they are, 
— of the spring of 1875. We also have four little 
pigs on board, confined in a strong, iron-barred cage, 
near the forecastle-door. They are tiny little porkers, 
weighing not ten pounds apiece ; and they assure us 
plenty of succulent chops when we get down into 
the cold weather of the South Atlantic. Our bill of 
fare is nearly exhausted when mention has been 
made of these edibles ; but with skilful judgment in 
the varying of the daily programme there is enough 
to satisfy sea-going people. 

The day ended finely, enabling the skipper to get 
an afternoon sight, which put us about seven hundred 
miles from Sandy Hook. 

July 5 

This morning was hot, sultry, and cloudy. It 
cleared up a little before noon, and I thought that a 
fine evening would follow. But the clouds that re- 
mained had a squally look, and I saw a number of 

18 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

water-spouts waltz by a couple of miles away. A 
little while after, the clouds assumed an extraor- 
dinary appearance, some moving quickly and others 
more slowly in huge masses of white vapor, show- 
ing that very unsettled atmospheric conditions pre- 
vailed at no great altitude. Heavy puffs would now 
and then rip across a small area of ocean, violently 
disturbing the water in the vicinity, and then quickly 
subside. Such conditions will be readily called to 
mind by any one who has been to sea ; and when I 
add that the sultriness increased to an oppressive 
degree, it will be surmised that something unusual 
was about to transpire. 

It was close to the hour of five in the afternoon. 
Seeing a rain-squall approaching, I had gone below, 
and was in the act of pulling on my oil-skins when I 
heard Captain Kingdon sing out in a loud voice, 
" Let go the royal- and top-gallant-halliards, quick 
now." Hardly were the words out of his mouth 
when I heard the high-pitched shriek of a heavy 
squall, and at the same instant the " Mandalore" lay 
over to it till the carlings overhead seemed nearly 
perpendicular. Of course, I fetched away and 
brought up heavily on the lee side of the cabin, from 
which position I removed myself as quickly as pos- 
sible (it is a very difficult feat to perform) and hauled 
myself up the companion-way to the poop. On deck 
an appalling sight greeted me. The ship was rail 
under, and quite motionless from the very violence 
of the wind, which came from the south, the ship's 
head being east and the yards braced sharp up. We 
had neither headway nor sternway, but remained 

19 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

perfectly still, except that at every second we heeled 
still farther. I have never seen it rain with such fury 
before or since ; though the water did not seem to 
descend, but was blown along in horizontal strata. 
I crawled to where my wife was crouching on the 
weather side of the wheel, under the lee, as much 
as possible, of the weather cloths on the poop-rail. 
She was very pale, but said nothing. Indeed, speech 
was impossible, for the words seemed to be cut off 
short and blown away. 

Every eye went to Captain Kingdon. He stood, 
self-possessed, at the forward end of the poop, hold- 
ing on to the weather mizzen-shrouds. One order 
was given, and only one : " Keep your wheel amid- 
ships" was all the skipper said. Nothing more could 
be done; the royal- and top-gallant-halliards had 
been let go, but the yards would not run down owing 
to the heel of the vessel. On a sudden I heard many 
loud reports, and, glancing aloft, I saw all our upper 
canvas blowing away and flying down to leeward 
like patches of brown smoke. This reheved the 
ship and she partly righted, only to be struck down 
again by a second squall, worse, if possible, than the 
first. Again we lay way over till it seemed as though 
you could walk out on the masts, and looking across 
the decks was like looking off the roof of a house. 
I took a cool view of the vessel, and estimated at 
the time that the water was more than a foot deep 
over the lee rail and flush with the main-hatch 
coaming. Deeming the present a time for deeds and 
not words, the second mate stumbled aft, pulled 
himself up on the fiferail, and cut the mizzen-top- 

20 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

saill- halliards. This time the heavy yard came 
crashing down with so hideous a din that I put my 
face next to my wife's ear and shouted, " Some of 
the spars have gone, I think." The relief afforded 
by this act of the second mate, coupled with the 
easing up of the squall, allowed the " Mandalore" to 
right, which she did with the water fully two feet 
deep all over the main-deck. I looked to see 
the bulwarks in the waist and the hatch-covers 
go, but no injury was done except some trifling 
damage up forward. The amount of water could 
not have been less than four hundred tons; and 
as the large, square ports in the bulwarks were 
not open, this immense volume had to run off 
through half a dozen six-inch scuppers. We came 
pretty near losing the mate. He went on to the top- 
gallant-forecastle just before the second squall to 
try and save the inner jib, which was slatting furi- 
ously ; and when the ship lay over to the second 
blast, a big sea, that came from heaven knows where, 
washed him off the forecastle-head and almost over- 
board. He stuck in the lee fore-rigging, with as 
close a call as ever a man had. 

The total amount of damage consisted in the loss 
of all the royals and the fore- and mizzen-top- 
gallants, besides ripping the main-sail from head to 
foot. However, after a little while the ship was 
brought to her course again, and we proceeded under 
the three lower top-sails, foresail, two jibs, and the 
cross-jack with the weather clew hauled up. Had 
we been dismasted in a hurricane the decks could 
not have presented a more forlorn and desolate sight. 

21 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

All the running-gear had been lifted off the pins on 
both rails when the ship righted the first time ; and 
when the second knock-down came, with four feet of 
water in the scuppers when she rolled, such a mess 
was never seen. I did not think that such a com- 
plicated tangle were possible; the whole presented 
the most hopeless snarl of sheets, halliards, bunt- 
Hnes, braces, balls of spun-yarn, and coils of new 
manila. The second mate and boatswain had their 
business cut out for them when they tried to clear 
up the decks ; and it was not till the end of the 
second dog-watch that the main-deck assumed its 
customary air of neatness and order. We found 
that the mizzen-royal had been blown absolutely 
to pieces, nothing but the bolt-rope being left. It 
looked like a paper hoop at the circus after the bare- 
back riders have jumped through it half a dozen 
times. 

Sailors are odd fish. They will fight like wild 
beasts for life if they think that there is danger ; 
but directly the peril is over, no one ever mentions 
it again. Thus it was with the mate. At supper 
the skipper asked him if he had not come pretty 
close to going to Davy Jones. " Oh, I don't know," 
said Mr. Ryan ; " I stuck all right in the fore-rig- 
ging." The second mate, as grizzled an old seaman 
as ever jockeyed a yard-arm, kept as cool through- 
out the disturbance as though nothing unusual was 
going on. We had furled the sky-sails an hour 
previous to the squalls, or all three would have 
shared the fate of the mizzen-royal. Some of the 
old sails, I think, can be repaired. 

22 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

July 6 

To-day broke with a strong wind and clear sky. 
All the sails that we had on the ship were the upper 
and lower top-sails and the foresail. Every man on 
board capable of handling a needle was put to work 
helping the sail-makers, and gradually we got things 
into shape up aloft. By noon a new mizzentop-gallant 
had been bent, and at six in the evening we were 
carrying the fore- and maintop-gallants and a brand- 
new mizzen-royal. At breakfast-time, this morning, 
sighted a barkentine steering east, being the only 
vessel we have seen, bar the steamer's light a night 
or two ago. 

A word or two here about the second mate would 
not be amiss, I believe, as he is a genuine character. 
His name is Kelly, and his hailing port Thomaston, 
Maine, — the home of so many of our deep-water 
sailors. His age, I should think, is in the neighbor- 
hood of fifty years, and his face sufficient proof of the 
assertion that he had, until this voyage, averaged one 
round trip a year between New York and San Fran- 
cisco for thirty-two years, making sixty-four times that 
he has doubled the Horn. His countenance, seared 
by the sun of the equator and hardened into leather 
by Cape Horn gales, would have long ago won him a 
fortune as an artist's model. He has no eyelids, and 
it is impossible to tell the color of his deep-set eyes 
(little holes in his face they look like), continually 
blood-shot from staring into sou'west gales in the 
Southern Ocean, ably seconded by bad rum. His 
face is further adorned with an enormous red mus- 
tache, extending down each side of his mouth, with 

23 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

large, bushy ends. It is known ashore sometimes as 
the " car-driver's mustache." But most curious of 
all is the shape of his legs. He is the most bow- 
legged man it is possible to conceive of; in fact, from 
his waist down he is the shape of an egg, and a 
stout, healthy pig could jump through his legs with- 
out touching either knee. I have often seen the men 
put their hands before their mouths to smother a grin 
when old Kelly rolls forward on the main-deck. His 
deformity has its advantage, though, as during the 
severest rolling he stands seemingly fixed to the 
deck, and maintains his equilibrium with no apparent 
effort; for, by placing his feet a few inches from 
each other his knees will be more than a foot apart, 
and he sways from side to side so comfortably that I 
often envy him the perfection of his art. 

The steward aboard a long-voyage ship is a man 
whose friendship it is well to cultivate. He is the 
autocrat of the storeroom, and lords it over the 
cook. No one ever knows his name, for he always 
answers to " steward." The one we shipped hails 
from Calais, Maine, and is so ponderous and unman- 
ageable that I cannot understand how he keeps his 
feet as he comes staggering along the main-deck 
from the galley, with the dishes piled high in a bas- 
ket under his arm. He is very large as to his waist 
and wears a mustache and imperial, after the man- 
ner of Napoleon HI., and he is the personification 
of idiotic dignity. At meal-hour, though, he insists 
upon entering into the conversation, especially when- 
ever a question arises that no one, for the moment, 
can answer. Even the skipper's glares are some- 

24 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

times lost upon him, and I see now that his wonder- 
ful flow of conversation when we first came aboard 
was not entirely due to bibulous propensities. 

July 7 

This was the most beautiful morning we have had 
yet. The wind was south-southwest all day, enabling 
us to lay our course braced sharp up. We are steer- 
ing southeast true, and will continue to do so for a 
long time, crossing thirty degrees in forty degrees, as 
the saying goes. I have had some little opportunity 
of observing the men before the mast. Two of them 
are very old ; so old that I am surprised they shipped 
for so long a voyage. I should have thought that 
Rio or the River Plate was as far as they would have 
cared about going. The more ancient, but stronger 
of the two, is the assistant sail-maker. He is broad- 
chested, and still bears evidence of having once been 
a splendid type of a by-gone race of sailors. But his 
face is a mass of wrinkles, and a snow-white ruffle of 
beard covers his chin and throat ; you can easily be- 
lieve that he speaks the truth when he says that his 
age is seventy-two years, fifty of which have been 
passed at sea. For some years he has been an inmate 
of the Sailors' Snug Harbor, on Staten Island, hav- 
ing come on this voyage on furlough, as I believe an 
absence from that institution is called. However, 
this old man still goes aloft ; and after the squall, the 
other day, did his share of work on the foretop-gal- 
lant-yard. 

The other very old creature is in the mate's watch. 
He is a great deal more feeble than the sail-maker, 

25 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

and with difficulty can haul himself above the main- 
top. He doesn't look as though he'd last the passage 
out ; and when he relieves the wheel, shambles along 
the deck with a pitiful show of activity, as he sees 
the officer on watch observing him out of the corner 
of his eye. As to the rest of the foremast hands, 
they seem to be an average lot; certainly no better, 
and probably no worse, than the rest of their 
genus. 

In the second mate's watch is an American called 
Carson, — the best seaman in the ship. He did the 
work of three men aloft the other day ; and if Mr. 
Kelly doesn't spoil him, he will undoubtedly prove a 
jewel. But the second mate jokes with him and 
flatters him. It is " Carson, do this ;" " Carson, do 
that;" "Carson, jump aloft and overhaul the fore- 
sky-sail-halliards." Any sailor knows what this sort 
of thing leads to : in less than a fortnight Carson 
will be bossing the second mate and, finally, the 
whole watch. I looked upon a man who has made 
more than thirty round voyages between New York 
and California as second mate as being too well 
seasoned to show friendliness and favoritism to any 
particular man; I fancy that old Mr. Kelly wel- 
comes him as the only American sailor on board, 
and unbends towards him for this reason. 

Sunday, July 8 

To-day broke warm and clear, with little or no 
wind ; in fact, when I went on deck, just before eight 
bells, we were all but becalmed. The sun was very 
hot, and a canvas awning was stretched across the 

26 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

poop, making the latter a very comfortable place for 
dreaming or reading in one of the large, comfortable, 
wicker chairs. We fanned along all day over an 
almost motionless sea, making only seventy miles in 
the twenty-four hours. Opened a bottle of Ruinart, 
as is our custom on Sundays, and a discussion arose 
concerning the buoyancy of a champagne-bottle, the 
skipper and mate maintaining that it would float, 
while I adhered to the belief that it would not only 
sink, but sink quickly ; so I hove one overboard and 
down it went. In the afternoon I slung a hammock 
under the awning, making the clews fast to the 
spanker-boom and the starboard mizzentop-mast- 
backstay, and a more delightful place for dozing 
would be hard to find ; for the ship has just roll 
enough to swing the hammock, and, in spite of your- 
self, you must succumb to the motion and the air of 
general somnolence around you. 

The mate has many yarns of Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick to spin ; and as I have been twice 
to the head of the Bay of Fundy in my own yacht, 
our interest in the Provinces is mutual. Every other 
night, when Mr. Ryan has the first watch on deck, I 
wedge myself in between the weather mizzen-shrouds 
and the poop-rail, and give and take yarns by the 
hour with the mate, about the wonderful sixty- and 
seventy-foot tides in the Bay of Fundy ; how vessels 
of considerable size have foundered in the steep, 
hollow sea that makes in the bay when the ebb-tide 
runs out against a strong southwest wind ; and the 
many difficulties that generally beset the mariner in 
his efforts to make the harbor of St. John. 

37 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Captain Kingdon is the most persevering pedes- 
trian I ever saw. He generally takes his morning 
sight at 7.30 and immediately after breakfast works 
it out. Then he begins to walk, and keeps it up, 
striding the length of the poop and back with rapid 
steps, for perhaps two hours. After dinner he re- 
sumes his exercise and doesn't stop till four, when 
the afternoon sight claims his attention; while he 
passes at least an hour in the same way before turn- 
ing in. Thus for five hours of every day does the 
skipper pace the deck, doing from ten to twelve 
miles in that time, and seldom pausing except now 
and then, to cast his eye at the weather leech of the 
mizzen-sky-sail, when the helmsman is told to " Look 
out what you're doing." 

At 9.15 this evening we put the ship about for 
the first time on the port tack, the wind having 
shifted dead ahead, — southeast. The man at the 
wheel, a gigantic Finn, let the ship get in irons, 
and a pleasant time he had for the next fifteen min- 
utes. Fortunately, the wind was very light, and the 
ship was soon on her course again, heading south- 
southwest. 

July 9 

This was another clear, warm morning, with a 
little more wind than yesterday, although still dead 
ahead. The best course that we have been able to 
look up to since yesterday was south by west; so 
that we are five points off our true course. At nine 
this morning we sighted a steamer steering about 
west-southwest, and bound evidently to some south- 

28 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ern port of the United States. We made our num- 
ber, where from, where bound, and " all well" to the 
steamer, which hoisted her answering pennant im- 
mediately ; she will probably report us in five days 
or so. An hour later, exchanged signals with a 
ship, also. She proved to be the " Canterbury," of 
Glasgow, twelve hundred and sixty net tons, and was 
steering a little to the northward of west, and per- 
haps was bound to New York. 

This speaking of vessels makes quite a little 
excitement on board a sailing-ship. Very likely, 
while you are at breakfast, the mate will say, " There's 
a ship's royals showing in the southeast, sir ; I think 
she's bound to the west'ard. Are we going to make 
our number ?" Then the skipper will say " Yes," 
and orders the helm shifted so as to bring the stranger 
close aboard. After breakfast we hang over the 
rail, discussing the nationality of the ship, which has 
now risen to her upper top-sails perhaps, and bets are 
laid in favor of her being an Englishman. By and 
by her hull rises out of the water, and we see by the 
look of it and the cut of her courses that she flies the 
English flag, long before she hoists the red ensign. 
Then the little mate assumes an air of great impor- 
tance, and proceeds to select from the locker the 
flags K C B D, which in the international code lan- 
guage spell " Mandalore." While he is bending them 
on to the signal-halliards, much agitated for fear of 
putting D above B, Pete, the monkey, who, it will be 
remembered, was secured to the flag-locker, has 
stealthily possessed himself of the signal code-book, 
and, before I could rescue it, has totally destroyed 

29 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

thirty or forty pages from the middle of the book. 
Most captains would have either hove him over- 
board or exterminated him with a belaying-pin ; but 
our good old skipper only gazed ruefully at the 
ruined book, saying that he ought not to have left it 
where Pete could reach it. I was much relieved to 
know that he has another copy of this important 
volume below. By this time the excitement incident 
to the destruction of the signal-book has passed 
away, the stranger is abreast of us, and we have run 
up our number, the flags fluttering gayly out from 
the end of the monkey-gaff", eighty feet from the 
deck. Then, while the other vessel hoists the flags 
that spell " Canterbury," we tell her in addition that 
we are from New York for Calcutta, and ask them to 
report us all well. They must have been short of 
flags or else remarkably lazy on the " Canterbury," 
for they refused to talk any more, but dipped the 
ensign three times, to which we responded by thrice 
lowering our flag. When we had executed all these 
manoeuvres the two ships were so far apart that I 
could not see the painted ports of the " Canterbury," 
and in another hour she had sunk to her top-gallants, 
almost invisible. 

Such an incident as the one just mentioned no 
doubt seems trivial enough to shore-going people, 
but to those at sea it is a matter of considerable 
interest; for, apart from the pleasant break in the 
day's monotony, you are reasonably sure of being 
reported in a few days, which is always good news to 
those at home. As the ships hauled abreast of each 
other it is amusing to see the men run to the rail to 

30 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

catch a momentary glimpse of the stranger ; while a 
row of black dots just above her rail showed that 
her crew were sizing up the " Mandalore," two or 
three figures on her poop closely scanned us with 
binoculars. 

How deep in the water a sailing-ship looks as you 
pass her at sea ! It seems as though she must founder 
in anything like bad weather ; and yet how few acci- 
dents of this sort happen ! 

At noon to-day we were clear of the Gulf Stream 
entirely, having had about six days of it. From 
now on till we take the northeast Trades light wiinds 
are to be expected, and we cannot hope to average 
more than one hundred miles a day. In the second 
dog-watch a swell came rolling out of the west, 
and a good breeze is looked for from the same 
quarter. 

July lo 

Another such day as yesterday, — warm and nearly 
calm. Captain Kingdon considered the weather 
favorable^ for cleaning the ship's bottom, as we are 
very foul. So at about ten o'clock the mainyard 
was backed and I became the spectator of a curious 
proceeding. For some days previously I had noticed 
the men at work on a strange-looking device, made 
of half a dozen planks, about six feet long, lashed 
together so as to make a platform about two yards 
square. On this were secured twelve pieces of sheet- 
iron bent to a right angle, one side of each fastened 
to the wooden square, the other side or end standing 
perpendicularly to the height of four or five inches. 

31 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

On the reverse side of the platform eight galvanized- 
iron, air-tight cylinders were lashed, the whole pre- 
senting a puzzling appearance. I was not long kept 
in ignorance, however, for the machine was at once 
lowered over the stern, and, by means of wire ropes 
leading to the main-deck capstans, was hauled fore 
and aft along the bilges. By looking over the side 
you could see immense numbers of barnacles that, 
having been detached, were drifting away below the 
surface like a school of small fry. Then I under- 
stood the meaning of the contrivance; the bent 
edges of the sheets of iron scraped off everything 
with which they came in contact, while the air-tight 
cylinders on the other side of the planks kept forc- 
ing the whole thing upward, pressing it tightly 
against the ship's bottom. 

At eleven this morning we sighted a fore-and-aft 
schooner forward of the lee beam. For a long time 
we could not make her out, the atmosphere being 
unfavorable, but at length, when she had neared to a 
mile, it was seen that she was a whaler. She passed 
close under our stern, and, seeing us hove to, her 
skipper hailed us and asked whether we wanted any 
assistance. Captain Kingdon, after declining, asked 
him to come aboard; and, after some deliberation, 
they lowered away the starboard quarter-boat and 
pulled aboard of us. The schooner proved to be the 
" Pearl Nelson," of New Bedford, Captain Thompson, 
of one hundred and seventeen tons. She had been 
out fourteen months, cruising between the Cape de 
Verdes and the West Indies, with fair success. Her 
skipper was a very short individual, about fifty 

32 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

years old; of excessive beam and quite a lordly 
air, and he diffused a powerful, far-reaching frag- 
rance of whale-oil throughout the ship. I think he 
took me for one of the officers of the " Mandalore ; " 
for whenever I spoke to him in the presence of Cap- 
tain Kingdon, he answered in monosyllables or not 
at all. I pitied him, though ; and, as he had an arid 
look, I asked him to have a drink. Instead of melt- 
ing into a sunny smile, his countenance assumed a 
severe cast, as he withered me with " I never drink 
liquor." But something more was to come : think- 
ing that perhaps he would like to have some reading 
matter, I rummaged about our state-room, trying to 
find some novels that I thought he might like ; and 
I found " Sappho," " Around the World in Eighty 
Days," and a flesh-creeping tale called " Dynamite 
Dick." When I presented these to him he looked 
calmly at the names, scanned a few pages, and then 
handed them back, saying, sternly, " I never read 
anything but the Bible." Oh, ye gods ! think of that! 
A whaler first refusing a drink, and then asserting 
that his reading matter was contained between Gene- 
sis and Revelation ! He was too upright a man for 
me, and he made me feel quite uncomfortable ; so I 
left the two skippers and went on deck, where I 
fell to studying the splendid whale-boat of Captain 
Thompson that lay alongside. The " Pearl Nelson" 
was manned, as is the custom with whalers in the 
North Atlantic, by dark-skinned Western Islanders, 
— a confused race consisting chiefly of a mixture of 
Portuguese and negroes. This whale-boat's crew 
that lay alongside were very powerful, fearless-look- 

o 60 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ing fellows, though with pleasant countenances. The 
schooner herself was not a bad-looking vessel, very 
seaworthy, and entirely fore-and-aft rigged, — a sur- 
prising circumstance to me, as one always hears of 
whaling barks, that seeming to be an almost universal 
rig for the business. I heard not long ago, as an 
evidence of the continued prosperity of whalers, that 
a Scotch bark, the "Active," of Dundee, last year 
cleared thirty thousand dollars in one very short 
voyage, having taken four tons of Greenland whale- 
bone, worth more than ten thousand dollars per ton, 
the voyage paying three hundred and sixty per cent. 

About four o'clock Captain Thompson appeared 
on deck, paid no heed at all to the monkey as he 
walked across the poop, although Pete missed the 
calf of his right leg by only one link of his chain, 
and disappeared gravely over the side. In ten min- 
utes he stood on his own quarter-deck, uncovered 
his head in a stately bow, and then filled away, stand- 
ing to the northward. If righteousness and hu- 
manity count for aught, Captain Thompson ought to 
reach St. Michaels with his vessel full of ambergris. 

We continued our scraping till supper-time, when 
we wore ship and headed away on the starboard 
tack, steering northeast by east, showing that the 
wind is still ahead. 

July i l 

Another just such superb day as yesterday, al- 
though the wind is still from southeast. After 
breakfast we laid the mainyard aback and com- 
menced the tedious task again, this time scraping 

34 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the port side of the bottom. At eight o'clock the 
" Pearl Nelson" was five miles or so away on the lee 
beam, and at noon, the wind having freshened a 
little, her trucks had vanished below the horizon. 
Late this afternoon I saw the most beautiful display 
of deep-sea fish that ever came to my notice, having 
fallen in with a school of what sailors call dolphins. 
Many times I had heard and read of the great beauty 
of these inhabitants of the deep, but what I saw 
astonished me beyond measure ; and as they are 
never met with on soundings, the water is always of 
that marvellous, ultra-marine color only to be seen in 
the deep solitudes of the ocean, and transparent as air ; 
so that nothing interrupts the vision and the sHghtest 
movement of a fish, far below the surface, is dis- 
tinctly visible. The colors of the dolphins were so 
exceedingly brilliant that one could with difficulty 
believe that they were living animals, especially as 
all their rapid and graceful movements were made 
without the slightest apparent motion. So fascinat- 
ing a picture did they make that my wife and I could 
have watched them the whole afternoon, had they 
not taken fright and darted away not to return. 
Even the gorgeous coloring of the angel-fish of the 
Bahamas cannot approach that of the dolphin. The 
skipper rigged a harpoon and struck two of them, 
but did not get fast. It seemed wicked to kill them ; 
and we would not have tried to do so, except for the 
sake of a mess of fresh fish, the flesh, so it is said, 
being very delicious. It is curious, I think, that 
sailors should call this fish a dolphin, for it certainly 
is not. The true dolphin is generally about seven to 

35 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

eight feet long, — that is, about the size of a porpoise, 
— has a flattened kind of beak instead of a mouth, and 
a blow-hole, and belongs to the cetaceans ; while 
the fish that we saw to-day, which sea-faring men call 
the dolphin, looks something like a blue-fish, except 
that the head — forehead, if you can call it that — is 
very high and blunt. Sailors call the true dolphin 
" bottle-nose." 

We came very near having a tragic termination to 
the harpoon business. The incident, or accident, 
happened while Captain Kingdon was trying to strike 
the second dolphin. The manner in which he goes 
to work on such occasions is this : After the harpoon 
has been rigged, — that is, fitted with a wooden handle 
and a long line, — the skipper steps outside the poop- 
rail, and stands on what is called the " half-round" 
(that makes the poops of English ships something 
like a whale-back) in order to have better command 
over the harpoon and a clearer view of the fish. To 
aid him still further the skipper passes the bights of 
a line around his waist, belaying the ends to the rail 
or one of the pins, and leans far out over the water 
so that he can see right under the counter. Captain 
Kingdon was in this position, and just about to hurl 
the iron, when the rope, which had been carelessly 
belayed, slipped. Our hearts seemed to stop beating 
as the skipper fell backward, but just as he was dis- 
appearing he caught the very bottom of one of the 
rail-stanchions, and hung there until the steward and 
I hauled him aboard. Only a moment before I no- 
ticed a number of pilot-fish hovering about, indicating 
the presence of sharks, which would probably have 

36 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

made it unpleasant for Captain Kingdon had he fallen 
overboard. 

This certainly is the region for beautiful sunsets, 
and as we go farther south I understand that they 
increase in brilliancy. We had a superb one to- 
night, with wide bars of gold radiating from behind 
a vast black cloud. We filled away at six and pro- 
ceeded, braced sharp up, and, as usual, five points off 
our course. 

July i2 

Still the light weather holds on. This day was 
even calmer than the previous ones, and it makes the 
fifth day of head winds. Last voyage Captain King- 
don took a strong southwesterly wind after leaving 
the Gulf Stream and held it to the thirtieth parallel, 
almost until he took the northeast Trades. Late 
in the afternoon a shark took the line that is always 
towing astern, and instantly everything was excite- 
ment. This line is what is known as a cod-line and 
is perhaps forty fathoms long, ending with two 
strands of stout wire twisted together, giving a total 
length of probably three hundred feet. The method 
of ascertaining when a fish has taken the hook is simple 
and infallible : a slender stick of wood is made fast 
in a vertical position to the poop-rail, to the upper 
end of which is secured the cod-line, which then 
passes inboard and well secured to a stanchion. The 
result of this arrangement is that when a fish has 
been hooked the slightest effort is all that is required 
to break the stick with a sharp snap. This the 
helmsman hears and gives the alarm. Being nearest 

37 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

to the stick when it broke this afternoon, I undertook 
the job of hauling the shark in, — a matter requiring 
judgment, as he could easily part the line if alarmed. 
I was lucky in hauling him in up to the iron wire, 
when I was glad to hand the line to two of the men, 
who passed it up forward of the mizzen-rigging, bring- 
ing the beast under the counter ; the skipper stand- 
ing by with his ever-ready harpoon, waiting for the 
fish to appear. At length, seeing his chance, he 
hurled the iron and, by a dexterous stroke, fastened 
the shark behind the gills. He made a short rush, 
but was bleeding copiously from both gills ; and we 
hauled him in again, this time with the stout harpoon- 
line, and tried to pass a running bowline over his 
tail while the skipper ran for his rifle. Before he re- 
turned, the boson, a most perfect example of the 
English cockney, appeared upon the scene, said that 
no one could teach him anything about handling 
sharks, and laid hold of the wire part of the cod-line, 
for the hook was still holding. Just at this moment 
Mr. Shark began to thrash about as only a wounded 
shark can, and at length worked the harpoon out of 
his body, having twisted the stout iron rod into an 
S, One more fierce rush, which parted the cod-line 
like a cotton thread, and away he went. This was 
where the boson showed his wonderful knowledge ; 
for just as the big fish made his final rush, he man- 
aged to get a turn of the iron wire around the first 
finger of his left hand, and in another second the 
first joint of that finger fell to the deck, having been 
as cleanly severed as if done with a meat-chopper. 
This man will never boast again that he of all men 

38 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

is best qualified for the capture of sharks. The fish 
looked to be between ten and eleven feet long. 

At four this afternoon we sighted a three-masted 
schooner on the port-quarter, distant about twelve 
miles, but she sailed so much faster and laid so much 
closer to the wind than we that at dusk she was 
abeam and only three miles to leeward. Our lati- 
tude at noon was 36° 30' north ; longitude, 49° 30' 
west. 

July 13 

Another day of very light airs, though, as what 
wind there is is abaft the beam, we are making some 
little progress. Last evening, however, there was 
not a breath of wind, and when the skipper lit a 
cigar, about ten o'clock, the match burned without a 
flicker. During the last two days we made only fifty 
miles to the good. 

If a man has any musical attainments at all, he will 
find the playing of whatever instrument on which he 
can perform a very great pastime at sea. On the last 
day before we embarked I thought of a small har- 
monium that has hitherto accompanied us wherever 
we went, and so I had it sent down to the ship with 
our luggage. It is very small, embracing only three 
and one-half octaves, and is known as Mason and 
Hamlin's yacht-organ. It is always in tune, never 
gets out of order, and can be packed away in a 
wooden case for shipment. On such a voyage as 
this I would not be without this little instrument for 
a great deal, as it takes the place, for nearly all 
purposes, of a large and cumbrous organ. Fortu- 

39 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

nately, I brought some music along as well, having 
filled one trunk-tray with it; so that I can enjoy 
Haydn and Beethoven as well here as in civiliza- 
tion. Last evening I had the harmonium taken on 
deck, the moonlight being so exceedingly brilliant 
that I could easily see the notes without the aid of a 
lamp. Latitude at noon, 36° 30' north; longitude, 
48° 2' west. 

July 14 

The light weather still prevails and seems likely to 
for an indefinite length of time. During the last week 
we did not make quite one hundred and fifty miles,— 
about an average of twenty miles a day. (Wherever 
the word " mile" is met with in this journal the sea- 
mile, or knot, is meant ; never the statute mile.) Now, 
this speed would be a source of irritating annoyance 
to most people, even to those who had made up 
their minds when they went to sea to brave what- 
ever discomforts might arise on the voyage without 
murmur. When you are in your house or club 
ashore it is very easy to say to your relatives and 
friends, " What do I care for a few days' calm 
weather ?" or " Suppose it does come on to blow a 
gale of wind, what of it ?" But it is a vastly differ- 
ent matter when you are actually at sea and ex- 
periencing a series of calm days, when a bottle hove 
overboard sometimes will be in plain view for two 
or three hours at a time. But I can't say that it 
makes me unhappy, and, as far as I can judge, my 
wife is no more inconvenienced by our sluggish pace 
than I am. Our chief amusement is backgammon, 

40 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

of which we often play as many as forty games be- 
tween eight in the morning and ten at night. Indeed, 
if I were going to sea alone I would choose a skipper 
who was fond of games, as they are really almost 
necessary. The evening, particularly, would hang 
very heavily on our hands were it not for back- 
gammon and cards. For when we tire of the former 
Captain Kingdon joins us in a three-handed game 
of euchre or cassino. 

Before we sailed I had determined to study sea- 
manship and navigation seriously, the latter in all 
its branches, and not as the majority of yachtsmen 
do who make a great show of nautical instruments 
on their boats without having a very clear idea of 
what they are for. I know three or four yachtsmen 
who exhibit with pride glittering sextants and ask 
you with a sort of awe " if you won't come in and 
see my chronometer." Now, there is not the least 
chance of these men ever going out of sight of the 
land, and most of them would contemplate with 
terror a straight run from Cape Cod Light to Mt. 
Desert Rock. They will tell you that they keep 
these instruments on board " in case anything hap- 
pens." 

I have had for a long time a keen desire to pos- 
sess a navigator's certificate, and now is my chance 
to become proficient in both navigation and seaman- 
ship. Two days ago I began study with the mate, 
who gives me on alternate days, according as he has 
the watch below or on deck, from one to two or 
from four to five in the afternoon. Mr. Ryan is very 
keen on figures, and holds an English master's cer- 

41 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

tificate as well as an American license for mate of a 
steam-vessel. With him as instructor I ought to 
progress rapidly; and he tells me that if I work 
hard, I will be able to pass an English Board of 
Trade examination before we are up with the Cape. 
Latitude at noon, 36° 4' north; longitude, 46° 
west. 

July 15 

Sunday, and two weeks at sea to-day, and one 
cannot imagine a more tortoise-like progression. 
But what do ten days more or less mean on a voyage 
of eighteen weeks? Of course, the skipper is im- 
patient at the delay ; but why is it that the rest of a 
ship's company on all deep-water ships begin to 
blackguard the weather as soon as the wind falls 
light ? They shipped on the " Mandalore" knowing 
that the voyage might easily run into one hundred and 
fifty days, and knowing equally well that weeks of 
calm weather are not uncommon ; yet both the mates 
pass the watches cursing the weather, the ship, and 
the voyage; but not the skipper, — that'll come by 
and by. 

Perhaps the pleasantest hour in the twenty-four 
is five in the afternoon, when I have the skipper's 
porcelain tub half-filled with sea-water and simply 
revel in the cool brine. Shore-going people, as I 
have said before, have no idea of the wonderful 
clearness and bright sparkle of deep-sea water. 
After the heat of such a day as this, nothing can 
equal the recuperative qualities of a simple bucket 
of sea-water, for the thermometer in our room 

42 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

stands between 84° and 82° continuously, day and 
night. 

At eight yesterday morning, I forgot to say, we 
sighted a bark of about eight hundred tons on our 
port, or lee, bow. She was a point nearer the wind 
than we were and moving a bit faster, so that at 
dusk she was dead ahead, about four miles away. 
But this morning we found that we had overhauled 
and passed her, which was very creditable with our 
foul bottom^; for such scraping as we did has no 
very great effect on the ship's speed, as only the 
largest barnacles came off We made our number 
to the bark after breakfast, to which she replied by 
simply hoisting the American flag. 

Last night my wife ran a pair of sharp-pointed scis- 
sors far into one of her fingers. Visions of blood- 
poisoning arose not pleasant to contemplate when 
beyond the reach of a physician. Just now the 
boson's finger is causing him a tremendous amount 
of trouble ; at first, for twenty-four hours after the 
accident happened, he says that he felt only a numb 
pain, but now he can get no sleep during his watch 
below, and the throbbing of the wound he describes 
as fearful. The wire that took his finger off was very 
rusty, and, if he escapes blood-poisoning entirely, it 
will be miraculous. I never saw a man show more 
evidence of acute pain than the boson did when, 
just after he had hurt himself, the skipper dressed 
the wound, pouring Friar's balsam on the raw flesh, 
before bandaging. Friar's balsam is the universal 
remedy at sea for apparently all bodily ailments. 
But yet the captain of a long-voyage ship must be, 

43 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

in a way, a physician as well as a surgeon, though 
particularly the latter. Accidents happen at sea all 
the time ; and it is necessary that he understand how 
to set a limb passably well, how to reduce a disloca- 
tion, and how to apply bandages. On the starboard 
side of the " Mandalore's" companion-way is a wide, 
shallow closet with glass doors, filled with all sorts 
of medicines, salves, and liniments that might be 
necessary at sea ; while a cupboard underneath con- 
tains splints, big rolls of adhesive plaster, and rubber 
and cotton bandages of all sizes ; a number of simple 
surgical instruments completing the outfit. The 
most useful article seems to be a pair of dentists' 
forceps, as the skipper has already drawn three or 
four teeth. It is not necessary for the " old man" to 
inquire what the sailor wants when he comes aft, as 
a huge lump in his cheek tells more plainly than 
words what ails him. Then the skipper grabs his 
forceps, turns to the man who has been standing in 
the cabin doorway fumbling his hat and staring at 
the ceiling, seizes the offending tooth with remark- 
able dexterity, and with one good, strong wrench 
plucks it out, the sailor backing out with mumbled 
thanks. Thus is dentistry added to Captain King- 
don's many accomplishments. Latitude, 35° 2f 
north; longitude, 45° 50' west, 

July 16 

This day s history must be commenced with the 
same old story of light winds, for during the twenty- 
four hours we made only fourteen miles of southing. 
Last night at nine we had a shift of wind to the east- 

44 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ward ; the braces were manned, and soon the " Man- 
dalore" was slipping along at two or three knots on 
the port tack. At some time during the night, 
though, we tacked ship again, and daylight saw us 
crawling along with the wind once more coming in 
faint breaths over the starboard side. 

Last night we witnessed another exquisite sunset. 
Just before he went down I went up to the mizzen- 
top, and for fifteen minutes sat spell-bound at the 
gorgeous picture. The ship was under all possible 
canvas, with the great main-sail visible to me under 
the foot of the lower mizzentop-sail, bellying out and 
then collapsing as the vessel rolled about in the easy 
swell. The deep Prussian blue of the water along- 
side, merging in this light into green two hundred 
yards away, and the magnificence of the sunset made 
a panorama that I will not soon forget. Two rain- 
squalls, so numerous in this locality, were approach- 
ing each other, and seemed to meet just as the sun 
had sunk into the sea. And who can describe the 
glory of the clouds just as the sun dipped ? No one 
that ever lived ; and the greatest of artists could not 
have transferred the scene to canvas. Such a sunset 
can never be forgotten. Latitude, 35° 13' north; 
longitude, 45° if west. 

July 17 

For some days I have not been feeling up to the 
mark, owing to overeating and lack of exercise. 
Nearly every one who first goes to sea begins by 
eating immense quantities of food, while all his cus- 
tomary exercise has been cut short, his appetite 

45 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

being splendid owing to his new surroundings and 
the strong, salty air. For a while he doesn't perceive 
that anything is wrong with him, till, at the end of a 
fortnight or so, he finds that he must cut down his 
bill of fare in order to keep well. It is next to impos- 
sible to take enough exercise at sea unless one goes 
aloft with the men and lends a hand at putting on 
new chafing gear and doing other light jobs in the 
rigging ; and while this occupation is very pleasant 
and agreeable for a few days, the novelty of the thing 
soon passes away, and one is reduced to walking the 
poop as the only means of stretching one's muscles. 
But as the poop is very short, only about forty feet 
in length, it cannot be supposed that much exercise 
is to be derived from stumping it. What surprised 
me greatly was the small amount of food that sailors 
eat. Captain Kingdon, for instance, is the lightest 
eater I ever saw, his breakfast consisting generally 
of a slice of cold ham and a little bread and butter. 
The mate makes his breakfast on a strange com- 
pound. He always helps himself to a plateful of 
oatmeal (burgoo in sea-lingo), scoops out a cavity in 
the middle of it like the crater of a volcano, which 
he fills with liquid ham-fat, and then smothers the 
mass with half a pint of molasses ! I have tried to 
bring myself to taste this curious mixture, but my 
courage fails at the crucial moment. I understand the 
Down East lumbermen and coasters depend during 
the winter for food on burgoo, ham-fat, and molasses, 
and a hardier set it would be difficult to find. 

Yesterday after dinner we had a light air from the 
westward of south, which enabled us for the first 

46 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

time in many days to lay our course. The breeze 
was as usual, short-lived though, and we were soon 
heading away off again. This morning at eleven we 
sighted a big English four-masted bark (according 
to their nomenclature) with double top-gallant-yards, 
homeward bound. We made our number at fifteen 
minutes past noon, but they did not answer. She 
was a splendid vessel, with immense freeboard for- 
ward ; and I counted thirty-six different sails set, in- 
cluding eleven stay-sails ; which surprised me, as the 
majority of new ships no longer use them. She was 
steering about north with the wind on her quarter, 
and a finer-looking English ship I never clapped an 
eye on ; for she had a grand sheer, so different from 
most of the iron sailing-vessels turned out from the 
English and Scotch yards. This vessel had the 
living-quarters, etc., amidships, — the first sailing-ship 
I ever saw built that way. The idea is that the 
structure amidships breaks the seas as they come 
aboard in heavy weather and prevents the water 
from collecting in the waist, often carrying away bul- 
warks and hatch-covers. 

The Clyde clipper seems to have vanished. Instead 
one now sees ugly, flimsily constructed vessels made 
of iron and steel, with bows like an apple and great 
fat quarters, instead of the graceful, speedy, wooden 
clippers of by-gone years. The British builders have 
also ceased to rig their ships with an eye to the 
beautiful ; although the English never did put such 
spars into their ships as we did, and, indeed, still con- 
tinue to do. The " Mandalore" is the only English 
ship really loftily rigged I ever saw, and she was 

47 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

designed and sparred by Captain Kingdon. I think 
it is a great pity that the United States and Eng- 
land cannot seem to agree in the nomenclature of 
vessels. The English call a four-masted vessel 
square-rigged on the fore, main, and mizzen and fore- 
and-aft-rigged on the jigger a four-masted bark, claim- 
ing that as the vessel is fore-and-aft-rigged on the 
after-mast she must be a bark, and also maintain- 
ing that the word " ship" ought to be applied only to 
three- and four-masted vessels entirely square-rigged, 
— in which latter case I think they are right. We 
in America built the first four-masted sailing-ship 
schooner-rigged on the jigger and called it a ship, 
the builders contending that it was a ship with an 
additional or auxiliary fourth mast. We still call 
this rig a ship, though four-masted vessels square- 
rigged all over are by no means uncommon, and, 
strictly speaking, only these and full-rigged three- 
masters are ships. That estimable paper, the New 
York Marine Journal, has invented the word ship- 
entine for those vessels carrying the fore-and-aft- 
rigged jigger-masts, but the name does not seem to 
be in use outside of New York. The true four- 
masted bark is the vessel that is square-rigged on 
the fore and main and fore-and-aft-rigged on the 
mizzen and jigger, — a type of which we have 
several representatives, chief among them being the 
" Olympic," of New Bedford, a splendid vessel, 
almost new, and in many respects the finest sailing 
vessel I ever saw. That she sails well is attested by 
the fact that she went from New York to Puget 
Sound in one hundred and seven days. 

48 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

I am getting on nicely in navigation ; unless one 
goes into the trigonometrical part and proves the 
work by mathematics, the science is a matter of 
adding and subtracting columns of figures, for that 
is really all it amounts to. Seamanship, though, is 
a different matter. According to my way of looking 
at the matter, a good seaman is born, not made; 
and though any skipper or mate may become fairly 
proficient in the art, they never will equal the man 
in whom seamanship is inherent, and who can tell 
exactly at what moment to put the helm up to wear 
ship in a heavy sea or just when it becomes neces- 
sary to heave to in a gale. Latitude at noon, 33° 
57' north; longitude, 45° 24' west. 

July 18 

The^ same conditions of wind and weather prevail 
to-day as for many previous ones, the wind coming 
still out of the south-southeast, forcing us to steer 
southwest. Everything points to an indefinitely 
protracted spell of light weather, and poor Captain 
Kingdon is at his wits' end. Last voyage, instead 
of being seventeen days getting where she is now, 
the ship in eight days was in the same latitude and 
two hundred and fifty miles farther to the eastward, 
— a better position in less than half the time. I ven- 
ture to make the prediction that we shall be more 
than forty-five days to the line. 

It is remarkable how well my wife bears the heat 
and the tedium of the calm weather. Most people 
will say that 80° is not an excessively high tem- 
perature, but let them remember that the ther- 
4 49 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

mometer stands at 80° every hour in the twenty-four, 
rising 2° or 3° higher at midday. The " Manda- 
lore" being an iron ship, the top-sides become heated 
to a surprising degree by the sun, and of course 
the temperature in the cabin and state-rooms is cor- 
respondingly raised ; and not until six or seven hours 
after sunset does the heat abate below, and even by 
two in the morning the temperature has not fallen 
more than 2°, Under the awning on the poop, 
though, there is nearly always some breeze, how- 
ever light; and even when the wind is up and 
down the mast there is motion enough in the roiling 
of the ship on the light swell to give us pleasant 
draughts of air out of the sails ; so that at no time 
has it been unpleasantly hot on deck. My wife does 
more reading than every one else on board put to- 
gether ; and, speaking of books, it is wonderful how 
cheaply and neatly they are bound in these days. We 
brought to sea with us one hundred bound volumes, 
costing only fifteen dollars. While the binding is, of 
course, not very good, it is neat-looking and service- 
able, and a great improvement over the old-time 
paper-covered novels. The books were packed in a 
large wooden case, and in buying it was necessary to 
take the whole box just as it stood; but the selection 
is excellent and embraces three or four of the works 
of each of the great authors. 

Games still continue to be the chief pastime ; my 
wife and I occupy the whole of the forenoon with 
backgammon, and from 7.30 to ten in the evening 
dominoes take its place. In spite of the sameness 
of the successive days, they fly by with astonishing 

50 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

swiftness. Everything is running smoothly ; the 
men know each other, work well together, and there 
is much hilarity in the second dog-watch. Sparring 
seems to be their chief amusement, and there are 
many severe bouts always going on between six and 
eight, bleeding noses and split lips generally ending 
the contests. Latitude, 32° 26' north; longitude, 
46° 9' west. 

July 19 

The Evil One seems to have laid hold of the 
southeast wind, for it still keeps on blowing a light 
breeze from that quarter. When the course is 
southeast by east, fancy having to steer south-south- 
west, as we did yesterday. 

Thus far we have caught no edible fish, which is 
rather surprising, as there are plenty of dolphins 
about, which make fine steaks, I am told. But there 
is so great a variety in the meals on board that we 
do not as yet feel the absence of fresh meat. The 
only thing we really miss is butter. There is, indeed, 
plenty of tinned butter on board, but, as it is not 
what can be called tempting, we do not touch it. 
When a tin is opened the contents look like sweet- 
oil, the heat having converted the butter into a yellow, 
rancid fluid that the mate dips out of the tin with a 
teaspoon and pours on slices of soft bread. Of milk, 
of course, we have none, except the condensed va- 
riety ; but as it is easy for most people to get along 
without milk, its absence doesn't bother us in the 
least. I think the skipper was somewhat deceived 
in the corned- and salt-beef. The former is some- 

51 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

what aromatic when taken out of the cask, while 
the salt meat served to the men is so far gone that 
half a barrel at a time has to be hove over the side. 
Fortunately, we have on board dozens of tins of 
boned chicken, pressed tongue, and corned beef, and 
there are always two varieties of vegetables on the 
table at dinner, besides a special dish of rice cooked 
for me and prepared with all the skill of an East 
Indian. Sailors will not touch rice, calling it " strike 
me blind ;" they profess to believe that the eating of it 
will cause them to lose their sight. The true reason, 
in my opinion, for their refusing it is to be found in 
the fact that rice forms the staple article of diet of the 
native sailors of the East, who come under the Cau- 
casian sailors' definition of " niggers ;" and because 
these men live on it the other men will not touch it. 
These are splendid nights. This evening the almost 
full moon rose out of a cloudless sea-line, and seemed 
so near that she had the appearance of having been 
shoved right up out of the ocean. And later on, a 
little before ten, she presented a magnificent spectacle 
as she hung suspended for a few minutes over a huge 
black cloud that had suddenly arisen out of the 
southeast. A little rain fell a while afterward, and 
a wee bit more wind came out of the cloud ; but at 
10.30 we were again motionless on the surface of the 
water. Latitude at noon, 31° 56' north; longitude, 
45° 32' west. 

July 20 

Not so much wind to-day, but we are laying our 
course. It is shocking to hear the mates blackguard- 

52 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ing the weather, especially Mr. Kelly. He has the 
most abundant flow of profane language ever heard ; 
he must think up and add to his remarkable collection 
of oaths whenever he is alone, for the variety of his 
profanity is distinctly his own. Captain Kingdon 
keeps his temper remarkably well, considering the 
cussedness of the elements. Last voyage he was 
making one hundred and seventy miles a day over 
almost this same ground (or water) as against twenty- 
five miles a day this passage. His average run to 
the Hne from New York is about thirty days; 
whereas we have been out nearly three weeks and 
are not half-way to the equator, 

I have made no mention of the two apprentices 
on board, — boys, as they are always called at sea. One 
is an English lad known as Dan; the other is a 
Scandinavian called Mike. Dan is a fat, heavy, lazy 
youth, of apoplectic temperament, evidenced by the 
purple color of his face upon exertion. He deserted 
from an English coaster a few months ago and came 
to America in the steamer " Paris" as a lamp-trimmer. 
He seems to be a shiftless kind of fellow, and I'll 
wager that he'll never rise above able seaman. 

Mike is Dan's antithesis. Two boys of eighteen 
could not be more opposite in disposition and ap- 
pearance. The Norwegian is tall and very strong 
and active, with broad shoulders and large, powerful 
limbs. Like most Scandinavians, he is florid and 
very good-looking. No exertion seems to discom- 
pose him ; I have known him to go hand over hand, 
without using his feet, up the mizzen-royal-backstay 
as far as the topmast-cross-trees, then slide down 

53 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the mizzentop-mast-stay to the main-top, and then 
on down the main-stay, dropping off onto the for- 
ward deck-house; and all this without show of 
effort. Mike is the sort of fellow that passes for 
a master's certificate and obtains a command at 
twenty- five. I had a long talk with him this evening 
just before eight bells went, and he told me that this 
was his first voyage on blue water, all his sailing 
heretofore having been done in the shallow, but 
violent North Sea. 

There is another man on board, an able seaman, 
who has served three years on a United States 
cruiser, who is a smart hand, though as lazy as a 
well-fed duck. His name is Lowen and he has a 
most villanous cast of countenance ; but his looks 
belie him, for he is good-natured and jolly as can 
be. The dog-vane at the mizzen-truck had a turn 
in it the other day and wouldn't blow out. The 
mate standing by the galley-door noticed it and sung 
out, " Who'll go up and clear that vane ?" Two or 
three of the watch jumped into the mizzen-rigging, 
but Lowen, owing to his training, was on the mizzen- 
royal-yard ere the others were much higher than the 
topmast-cap; then he grasped the slender sky-sail- 
pole and, shinning up in true man-of-war style, cleared 
the bit of bunting and slid down the backstays in 
as seaman-like a manner as one could wish to see. 
Latitude, 31° 46' north; longitude, 44° west. 

July 21 

I am now a past-master in the science of dead- 
reckoning. Mr. Ryan has proved to be a first-rate 

54 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

teacher, and thus far I have worked very hard and 
systematically. Most of the examples he takes from 
Ainsley's " Guide to the Marine Board Examination 
for Masters and Mates." The problems in this are 
very difficult, and are the same as those used by the 
British Board of Trade. I am proud to say that I 
can do any day's work in Ainsley; although the 
mate says he is going to make me work a traverse 
every day till we arrive at Calcutta; he says that 
more mistakes are made in dead-reckoning than in 
any other branch of navigation, and that it is impos- 
sible to practise day's work problems too much. So 
every afternoon I have to work out the hardest kind 
of a traverse-table, with seven or eight different 
courses, and currents of various strength ; while the 
ship is hove to half the time, coming up and falling 
off in quite a dizzy manner. 

At eight A.M. to-day we sighted an iron bark on the 
weather bow, and at eleven we crossed her distant 
about one mile. We made our number, to which 
she replied that she was the " Fairmount," of Glas- 
gow, seven hundred and ninety tons, bound from 
West Indian ports to the United Kingdom, forty- 
seven days out ! We were much surprised to find 
that she flew the English flag ; we took her for an 
Italian, with bad-setting sails, carrying no foreroyal, 
but a main-sky-sail; and she was the most dingy, 
forbidding-looking iron pot that one's fancy could 
picture; and I could imagine processions of cock- 
roaches waltzing over her cabin-deck-beams and 
dropping off now and then into the cups and dishes 
at table. Thank goodness the " Mandalore" is al- 

55 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

most free from this loathsome vermin; to be sure 
there are a few small roaches below, not as large as 
croton-bugs ; but of the big, black, wicked, winged 
variety I haven't seen one. Some time ago I slept 
several nights on a vessel (a foreign man-of-war), in 
a swinging cot where my head was within a foot of 
the carlings, while scores of big roaches rustled over 
my head throughout the night, visible by the light 
of a very dim lantern. Strange to say, not one of 
them fell on me, though I was afraid to breathe. As 
I understand it, the females only have wings ; and it 
was very alarming to see one of the vile creatures 
come sailing toward you, and finally strike against a 
beam close by with a curious metallic zip. I had to 
endure the roaches for four nights, and each time I 
shuddered as darkness came on. 

I am certain that I shall always look back to the 
first three weeks of this voyage with particularly 
bright remembrances, for we are in splendid health 
and spirits, and my wife has adjusted herself to the 
enjoyments of a deep-sea voyage. It is, indeed, 
always sailing over a calm summer-sea, with a daz- 
zling sun, deep-blue sky, and still bluer water ; and 
the afternoon heat cooled by delicious breaths of soft 
air that waft themselves in under the awning, where 
I am generally to be found in the hammock, reading 
or watching the glorious sunset as the blazing orb 
sinks into his bed of purple and gold clouds. But 
perfect as these days are to us, they are not regarded 
in the same light by the skipper, who avers that thus 
far it is the slowest passage he ever made. Soon, 
though, we will take the northeast Trades, the sky 

56 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

dappled with the fleece-like trade-cloud, and the 
horizon mountainous with huge shapes of milk-white 
vapor. Latitude at noon, 31° 33' north; longitude, 
42° 30' west. 

Sunday, July 22 

To-day three weeks ago we sailed from New 
York ; and at daylight this morning we sighted a 
large American ship on the lee quarter a mile distant. 
As the light increased, we made out with the aid of 
signals that she was the " Wandering Jew," from New 
York for Shanghai with oil. She sailed, we think, 
on the afternoon of the day we left ; and as she is 
accounted one of our fastest ships, I marvelled that 
we with our foul bottom could for so long hold our 
own with her. But she gradually showed us that she 
was moving faster than we were and sailing half a 
point nearer the wind ; so that she would, perhaps, 
have gone through our lee had she not at one in the 
afternoon tacked ship and stood away south-south- 
west on the port tack, as the villanous southeast 
wind still holds. The " Wandering Jew" is a splen- 
did vessel, and, as there is a difference of only forty- 
nine tons between us, the two ships ought to make a 
fine race. The " Jew" is the only completely flush- 
decked sailing-vessel I ever saw, as a half- deck is 
built over the main-deck, the space between the two 
decks being only what the height of the bulwarks 
would be on an ordinary ship. Thus her main-deck, 
instead of being not more than five feet from the 
water, is about ten ; and as there are no bulwarks, 
but a monkey-rail, no water ever stops aboard, the 

57 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

deck being built with a slight crown with that view. 
Nothing whatever rises above the deck from the heel 
of the bowsprit to the taffrail, except of course a 
fore-scuttle and the hatchways, a small skylight and 
low companion-slide aft, and the usual wheel-house 
seen on American ships. I should think that in 
heavy weather, there being no bulwarks, the men 
would be carried overboard ; but I am told that so 
little solid water comes aboard that she has never 
lost a man in that way, in spite of the fact that the 
monkey-rail is only twenty inches high. The 
" Wandering Jew" is the most handsomely sparred 
ship I ever saw, crossing a main-sky-sail-yard. Her 
commander is Captain Nicols. 

On working out the ship's position to-day it was 
found that we had made seventeen miles of northing 
since yesterday, and that our position was : Latitude, 
31° 50' north; longitude, 42° 30' west. 

July 23 

A little more wind to-day from east-southeast, and 
it enables us to lay a southerly course. Last night 
the skipper thought we were going to take the north- 
east Trades; but he was bitterly disappointed, for 
the wind was nothing but a puff which blew itself 
out in half an hour. At seven last evening sighted 
a vessel bound to the northward on the starboard 
tack, a little on the lee bow. It was nearly dark be- 
fore we came together, and when the stranger was 
close aboard, for some reason best known to himself, 
her skipper altered his course and showed us his red 
light ; we kept away a point, and when he had crossed 

58 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

us, not more than a quarter of a mile away, we luffed 
and hailed him, as Captain Kingdon wanted to get 
some information about the Trades. So, thinking 
his own voice not powerful enough, he told Mr. 
Ryan, who had the second dog-watch, and who was 
standing by the wheel, to sing out and ask him 
where he lost the Trades. Now, though the mate 
is a small young fellow, he can give cards and spades 
to any one I ever saw whenever he wants to make 
himself heard from the poop to the forecastle ; and 
upon this occasion he expelled such a volume of 
sound that his voice must have been heard two miles. 
" What bark is that ?" After a few seconds a gigan- 
tic figure on the poop answered "The 'Ancorus,' 
from Lobos for Hamburg; what ship is that?" 
" The • Mandalore,' from New York for Calcutta ; 
where did you lose the Trades ?" Unfortunately, this 
question disconcerted them on the "Ancorus" to 
such an extent that when they answered, after a con- 
fab, we were too far off to hear what the man said. 
The "Ancorus" was very brilliantly lighted up aft, 
and a dozen bright ports sent as many broad bands 
of light out into the surrounding darkness. They 
must have been celebrating some event on board, — 
the skipper's wife's birthday, perhaps, — and, as there 
was a great deal of talking and skylarking going on 
forward, I suspected that grog had just been served 
out. Lobos, whence she had sailed, is an island off 
the Peruvian coast in 7° south and 81° west, and is a 
noted guano port. Latitude at noon, 30° 22' north ; 
longitude, 41° 14' west. 



59 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

July 24 

Calmer than ever; I don't think we're making 
half a mile an hour as I am writing. 

After breakfast, when deep in Lorna Doone,— the 
finest book of its kind in the English language, — the 
helmsman pointed to something over the weather 
quarter, and looking over the side I saw a huge fish, 
much larger than a porpoise, gambolling about on the 
surface of the sea. My first idea was to sing out for 
the skipper, as the fish was well within reach of a 
harpoon ; but then I remembered that he was probably 
working out the morning sight, and would be any- 
thing but happy at an interruption. So I sat where I 
was and watched the great fish at play, paying not 
the slightest attention to the proximity of the vessel. 
He would sometimes throw himself entirely out of 
the water so that I could see right under his body, 
and then he would fall back again, striking on his 
back with such a resonant thwack that I looked to 
see him split open. I sung out for my wife, and 
together we watched the antics of the big fish, inter- 
esting by reason of his being almost under the 
counter. Then he would swim along on the surface 
of the water, and with his tail, which was athwart- 
ships like that of a porpoise, he would pat the waves, 
sounding like the paddles of a steam-boat on a still 
day. Suddenly he vanished for no apparent reason, 
and we saw him no more. 

There is a small bark astern of us, and, being light, 
is overhauling us ; indeed, we are nearly motionless. 
But far be it from me to grumble at the weather, for 
we are in splendid health, and, as the cabin-table 

60 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

maintains its standard of excellence, there is abso- 
lutely nothing for us to find fault with. Indeed, I 
wish there was a prospect of our being two hundred 
and twenty days at sea instead of one hundred and 
twenty, for I like the voyage even better than I 
thought I would. Being at sea is simply glorious. 
If I were captain of a man-of-war the men would hate 
me, for I should be at sea continually. Every one will 
ask, " What on earth do you find to do on board ?" 
The answer to that is, that if you lay out a plan 
and divide the day into so many parts, and have cer- 
tain things — duties, one might call them — to do at 
particular hours, the days really fly along too rapidly. 
Of course, I am taking it for granted that the man or 
woman goes to sea from choice, and not necessity. 
It is a very different affair if one is ordered to make 
a voyage for health's sake, and even before starting 
looks forward with dread, and perhaps horror, to the 
sixteen or seventeen weeks he is about to pass at sea. 
I can imagine nothing more tedious or wearing on 
one's nerves and good temper than a deep-water 
voyage under these circumstances. And if he or 
she starts out with the idea that there is nothing to 
do on a sailing-vessel, it is likely that the idea will 
be adhered to throughout the voyage. But, on the 
other hand, if one is interested in the handling and 
navigation of a vessel, and is observant of what is 
going on about him, I can warrant that the time will 
not drag heavily for him at sea. Studying the vari- 
ous characteristics of the foremast hands is an inter- 
esting pastime. There is a difference in the manner 
of each man as he walks along the deck, goes aloft, 

6i 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

or stands his trick at the wheel. Some of the men 
shuffle along as if in despair at their lot; others are 
shockingly lazy and take two hours to put a bit of 
chafing gear on a backstay. There is only one man 
forward who looks as if he actually enjoyed the sea ; 
he is a young fellow to be an able seaman, and he 
has such a twinkle in his eyes, and is always whist- 
ling such a merry air, that the thought comes to one, 
" There is a man of a rare species ; one who actually 
loves salt water and is really happy at sea." On 
the other hand, there are two tough cases on board; 
one is a Finn, a very powerful fellow and a good sea- 
man ; but his face is one of the most forbidding and 
treacherous I ever saw. He is a great pal of Carson, 
the American, and I imagine that nothing beneficial 
to the vessel will arise from their friendship. The 
other evil genius is a young German who is always 
swearing at everything, but he doesn't look to be as 
bad a character as the Finn. In seamanship not a 
man on board can compare with Carson, but he has 
begun to show a bad disposition, and the men look 
upon him as a leader, for he is intelHgent compared 
with the others, and looks like he could hatch out a 
complicated scheme. 

The poor skipper's patience is rapidly ebbing, and 
soon there will be none left. All day long he scans 
the horizon to the eastward for signs of hope for 
the Trades; and while the eastern sky has been 
hazy for two or three days, and there are now a good 
many trade-clouds sailing slowly across the zenith, 
not a bit of breeze comes from anywhere near north- 
east, and one day finds us in nearly the same position 

62 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

as the one that preceded it. We are across the 
thirtieth parallel, though, and at noon to-day we 
were in latitude 29° 17' north; longitude, 40° 33' 
west. 

July 25 

Very much the same sort of day. Last evening at 
seven we tacked ship, putting our room on the wea- 
ther side again. I am glad of this ; for while we 
always have plenty of air in our room on the lee 
side, yet one always feels more comfortable on the 
weather side of a ship. Already we have felt the 
great advantage of having a port opening on to the 
main-deck, as you are sure to have a breeze in the 
forward port if there is any stirring. When our 
room is on the weather side the breeze comes rush- 
ing in of itself, and when we are on the other tack 
the breeze pours out of the lee side of the cross-jack 
right through the port, with such force as to blow 
things about when there is even a moderate wind 
blowing. This morning at eight bells, though, we 
tacked ship again and stood to the south-southwest 
on the port tack. I took an observation of the Pole 
Star last night and worked out the latitude, and at 
noon to-day we found by observation that the lati- 
tude was almost exactly the same as it was at eleven 
last night ; we had not made five miles of southing in 
thirteen hours. Captain Kingdon exhibits a wonder- 
ful amount of patience, considering that southeast 
winds are not to be expected here ; he never rants 
and swears, but just paces the weather side of the 
poop with appealing looks to windward. 

63 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

The skipper wears curious garments made in 
China. They are suits of clothes woven of coarse, 
yellow silk, — sack-coat, waistcoat, and trousers ; the 
stuff looks of the same coarseness as a gunny sack, 
only the texture is very soft and pleasant, and is the 
very thing to wear in hot weather at sea, or any- 
where else, instead of flannels. Several grades can 
be had at any Chinese port, from finely-woven stuff 
like pyjamas down to the coarse cloth that he wears, 
and which he says lasts much longer than the finer 
grades. A curious feature of this silk cloth is that 
it doesn't seem to rumple much, as in the morning, 
after hanging up eight or nine hours, the creases dis- 
appear and the whole suit looks quite nice, and all 
that is necessary to do when it becomes soiled is to 
heave it into the wash-tub. 

This morning at breakfast-time sighted a bark 
hull-down to windward bound north, and at nine a 
barkentine in the same relative position and also 
bound north. Latitude, 29° 5' north; longitude, 
41° west. 

July 26 

This morning at 8.15 we sighted another bark. 
She crossed us only a short distance away ; so we 
made our number, to which she replied that she was 
the " Westward Ho," of Liverpool, twelve hundred 
and nineteen tons, from the west coast of South 
America for the United Kingdom. We signalled, 
" Where did you lose the Trades ?" She answered, 
" Latitude 26°," which gives us nearly two hundred 
more miles of southing to make before we get them ! 

64 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

The bark was a beautiful vessel as far as the hull 
went, but her sails spoiled her. She had a fine rise 
to the bows and a handsome stern, but the villanous 
cut and set of her canvas ruined her otherwise fine 
appearance. Her top-sails were nothing more than 
narrow hempen bands. 

Probably we will not take the Trades for six or 
seven days yet, if they are not blowing north of the 
twenty-sixth parallel and we do not make any more 
headway than we have for the last forty-eight hours. 
There is so much slatting and rolling about that the 
main-sail is hauled up most of the time to prevent its 
chafing; it is almost completely worn out and has 
been in use since the ship was put in commission, in 
1887 ; so that it has seen seven years of service. In 
fact, pretty near all the canvas is gone as well as the 
running gear, and the " Mandalore" would look like 
another ship with bright new gear and a suit of 
American white-duck sails instead of the grimy- 
looking English hempen ones. When a vessel's sails 
rise above the horizon you can instantly tell whether 
she is American or not; if she is, her canvas will 
show up as white as a yacht's, whether the sun strikes 
it or not. 

I think the hulls of our sailing-ships are better- 
looking than the Englishman's except the sterns; 
and why we should put such hideous, square, box 
sterns and counters on our sailing-vessels, square- 
riggers and schooners, is a question too abstruse for 
me. The bow of an American ship is a thing of 
beauty and a joy forever ; and, indeed, the whole ship 
is until you go aft, and the ugly, sawed-off stern 
5 65 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

catches the eye. In point of model, though, the 
" Mandalore" is as handsome a craft as ever floated ; 
and though built at Stockton-on-Tees, the Yankee 
idea of high bows and good sheer at once arrests 
the attention and tells better than words that it 
was an American that laid down her lines; while 
her spars are so light and graceful that visions 
of the erstwhile Bath clipper at once come to 
mind. 

During the past seven days we made three hun- 
dred and thirty miles, really more than I thought 
we made ; as an average of thirty miles a day in- 
stead of nearly forty-five would have seemed to me 
more like it. Still, two miles an hour is pretty slow, 
and at noon our position was: Latitude, 28° 30' 
north; longitude, 40° 41' west. 

July 27 

No change in the weather conditions has hap- 
pened since yesterday, and we are wriggling along 
in the same manner as for the last fortnight. This 
calm weather gives us an opportunity for quoit- 
throwing, and my wife and I have been practising 
continually for two or three days. The poop is just 
large enough for this amusement, in which we are 
joined every now and then by Captain Kingdon, 
who takes a really boyish interest in all such pas- 
times. When quoits was first suggested, we lamented 
the fact that we had no hoops, having, before we 
left, entirely overlooked this most popular of sea- 
games. Mr, Ryan set to work, though, and in 
twenty-four hours had fashioned half a dozen first- 

66 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

rate hoops out of stout wire, twisting several strands 
together so as to make them strong, and sewing the 
whole neatly together with spun-yarn. Thus, we 
are enabled to enjoy this excellent game ; and, as it 
increases the amount of exercise one takes, it is as 
beneficial as amusing. 

I am reading " Peter Simple" for the fifth or sixth 
time. I read it about once a year, and every fresh 
perusal only serves to increase the interest that not 
only I, but every one seems to feel when he has 
scarcely finished the first chapter. My wife enjoys 
Marryat as much as I do, which is remarkable, as he 
is a writer that, as a rule, does not appeal to women 
in the least. In none of Marryat's books has the 
author allowed maudlin sentiment to ever enter, as 
so many sea-novelists do ; there are many affecting 
scenes In his stories, but the incidents are told in 
such a straightforward way that the telling never 
wearies one, and I think that it is to this that all of 
his books owe that delightful freshness that perme- 
ates every one of them. He handles his ships so 
well, too, in his stories that you can follow out an 
action as well in mind as though you were actually 
present; while the club-hauling of the "Ariadne" 
off Finisterre in " Peter Simple" must ever remain 
fixed in the mind of him who reads it. As for 
Marryat's humor, it is irresistible and overwhelming. 
He must have been as agreeable and witty a com- 
panion as he was a competent officer and thorough 
seaman, while he immortalized his name in the 
International Signal Code; for he it was who for- 
mulated the system of talking at sea that is now 

67 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

used by all maritime nations. Latitude, 27° 1 5' 
north ; longitude, 40° 30' west. 

July 28 

Our old friend the southeast wind seems to die 
hard, for he still shows no signs of abdicating in 
favor of the northeast Trades. We seem to be sail- 
ing under an evil star like the " Flying Dutchman," 
William Vanderdecken, who in Marryat's " Phantom 
Ship" has been beating up against a westerly gale 
off Cape Agulhas since the middle of the eighteenth 
century, bound from Batavia to Amsterdam. There 
is a considerable difference, however, between the 
case of the " Amsterdammer" and that of ourselves ; 
for Vanderdecken had a gale of wind in his teeth, 
while with us, though just as much of a head wind, it is 
so light that it doesn't fill even the jibs or the sky-sails. 

We saw a large school of beautiful dolphins to-day, 
but so shy that they would not approach nearer than 
seventy-five or a hundred feet. It was in vain that 
we tried to entice them within harpooning distance, 
as we would have given much to have caught one of 
their number for the sake of its white, tender flesh. 
My wife has a flying-fish two or three times a week 
for breakfast, for they sometimes come sailing over 
the bulwarks at night. But a common flying-fish is 
so small and bony that it is hardly worth eating. 

My wife and myself are much interested to know 
what luck has attended the yacht " Vigilant" in her 
races in England. She was sold by the syndicate 
who built her to defend the America cup, and she 
has passed into the hands of two brothers, members 

68 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

of the New York Yacht Club, who sent her across 
the Atlantic, in the early part of the present summer, 
to see what she could do against the " Britannia," 
"Satanita," and "Valkyrie II.," in their home 
waters. Taken singly, " Vigilant" can probably beat 
any one of the above-mentioned trio ; but in a quad- 
rangular race — that is, three boats against one — it is 
so easy for them to " pocket" their opponent that I 
fear " Vigilant," except in match races with individual 
boats, will not come out particularly well. 

Most deep-water sailors look down upon yachts 
and yachtsmen. Why, it is hard to say. Probably 
the principal reason is that seamen can get so much 
higher wages yachting than they can coasting or 
shipping on long voyages that the best and most 
ambitious sailors desert merchant-vessels for the 
better pay, lighter work, and infinitely better food on 
yachts. In England there are hundreds, almost thou- 
sands of sailors who have been bred to yachting by 
their fathers and grandfathers, and who have never 
been aboard of any other class of vessel. 

Yesterday we made three miles of northing and 
ten miles of westing, which, at noon, put us in lati- 
tude 27° 18' north; longitude, 40° 43' west. 

Sunday, July 29 

Four weeks at sea to-day, and this is the twentieth 
day of head winds and calms. I understand that it 
was somewhere in this vicinity that a Dutch brig 
was becalmed for sixty-seven days, sometime during 
the seventeenth century ; whether this is a true story 
or not I cannot pretend to say, but it is said to 

69 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

be authentic. At any rate, one could easily believe 
it, judging from our own experience. The calm 
this forenoon was almost absolute, only a few cat's 
paws at intervals of two or three hours showing 
where there were slight currents of air. But these 
same little draughts are godsends, for they temper 
the heat under the awning, the intensity of which 
has been increasing in proportion to the southing we 
have made ; and, as there is practically no motion to 
the ship, we have no currents of air from the slatting 
of the sails. I never thought the ocean was as calm 
as it is now, for it is only at considerable intervals 
that a slight heave comes out of the southward, and 
for fifteen minutes at a time we are often absolutely 
motionless. 

Every night now in this calm the surface of the 
sea is shrouded in a mist that rises some seven or 
eight degrees above the horizon, while the sky is 
absolutely cloudless and the stars countless in num- 
ber and uncanny in their brilliancy and magnitude. 
Last evening, at 9.30, happening to glance over to 
the eastward, I saw what I made sure was a steamer's 
mast-head light, not more than a mile and a half 
away. There was no moon and it was almost per- 
fectly dark, in spite of the fact that the heavens were 
literally dusted with brilliant stars. I called the at- 
tention of the second mate to the steamer's light, 
and, old sailor that he is, it was some minutes be- 
fore he made out that what I took for a mast-head 
light was in truth a rising planet, so magnified by 
either the mist before mentioned or refraction as to 
exactly resemble a large steamer's light. Mr. Kelly 

70 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

said that he had often seen stars or planets through 
a mist before, but never one so large. 

I have not mentioned lately the skipper's Irish 
setter, Bang, that some one gave him just before we 
sailed. Poor fellow ; he doesn't seem to thrive on 
board ; on the contrary, he has grown so thin that 
he is quite a pitiful object. His appetite is very 
large, and he eats as voraciously as a shark ; but he 
evidently has inflammation of the stomach, or some- 
thing of that sort, — due, we think, to sea-sickness, — 
and the poor brute cannot retain food enough in his 
stomach to maintain life, for he is evidently dying 
for want of nourishment. He can't be sea-sick now, 
for we have been nearly motionless for a week. 
Every one on board tells me that most of the dogs 
die that are taken to sea ; I was very much aston- 
ished at this, for I always imagined that a dog was 
the best animal to take to sea. But it seems not; 
indeed, there is a maxim among sailors that "a 
woman and a dog are a bother aboard ship." The 
saying seems to be true enough about the latter, but 
that it is untrue of the former in some cases is 
proved by my wife, who, so far as the trouble is 
concerned, might as well be a male passenger as a 
woman. Indeed, the skipper volunteered the state- 
ment that he has been very agreeably surprised at 
the manner in which my wife is standing this, the 
most trying, part of the voyage. He confessed to 
me a day or two ago that when she was so sea-sick 
in the Gulf Stream he feared that the voyage would 
prove too much for her, and that she would require 
a lot of waiting on. Later, Captain Kingdon remarked 

71 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

that my wife was one woman in ten thousand who 
would be happy at sea, — a remark that I entirely 
agreed with. For, how many women are there, 
reared in luxury, who would consent to a four or five 
months' voyage ? And not only consent to it, but be 
absolutely happy, even when we are not doing twenty 
miles in the twenty-four hours. Besides, there are 
countless inconveniences to be suffered in a sailing- 
ship that women ashore have no idea of; and when 
we return home again, I am sure that my wife will 
be hailed as a heroine, as valiant as those of Clarke 
Russell. Latitude at noon, 27° north; longitude, 
40° 50' west. 

July 30 

The northeast Trades ! I verily believe that we 
have taken them at last. Everything points to it, 
for at four yesterday afternoon a light breeze came 
slowly and cautiously out of the northeast as though 
not sure of itself, and we at once braced the yards 
in and put the ship on her course, — south-southeast. 
No one can imagine the change that took place as 
that dark line on the water was approaching us ; 
every man held his breath for fear the coming breeze 
would prove naught but a cat's paw, and we have 
been deceived so often before that it did not seem 
possible that the long-expected Trades had come at 
length. The old skipper's face fairly shone with joy 
as he said, " Mr. Ryan, brace the yards in and let 
her go south-southeast;" while Mr. Ryan himself 
vaulted over the poop-rail down to the main-deck, 
to lend a hand at the braces. The men put their 

72 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

souls into their work, and the yards came in to a 
hearty chorus of " Yah-hoo, come in with her, boys," 
in marked contrast to the last fortnight, when we 
trimmed the yards two or three times each watch 
to every cat's paw, and the men shuffled about the 
decks with leaden feet. But now all that is changed ; 
the water once more danced and sparkled under the 
setting sun, while this cool trade-wind, so different 
from the late stagnant southwest breezes, instilled 
new life and vigor into every one. 

The northeast Trades, it might be well to observe, 
prevail between the parallels of 7° and 30° north; 
these limits are not fixed, but follow the sun, being 
farthest to the south in February and to the north 
in August. In the latter month it is customary to 
lose the Trades in 11° north, while in February 
vessels occasionally carry them to within one degree 
of the equator. The southeast Trades are confined 
chiefly to the Southern Hemisphere, their limits 
being 3° north and 25° south, varying as do the 
others, according to the season. Between the two 
winds there is an almost motionless zone of atmos- 
phere called the Belt of Equatorial Calms ; and, as 
might be supposed, this is a very trying region, as 
the heat is intense and the humidity generally very 
great. 

The Atlantic Ocean from the twenty-sixth to the 
thirty-sixth parallel of north latitude — that is, that 
part we have just traversed — is called the Horse Lati- 
tudes on account of the number of horses that used 
to die there of the heat during transportation by sail- 
ing-vessels. The name Sargasso Sea is given to that 

73 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

part of the ocean between 20° and 30° north and 
the thirtieth and sixtieth meridians of west longitude. 
We are on the eastern edge of the Sargasso Sea, and 
are constantly passing huge, thick beds of the so- 
called Gulf weed that covers its surface, whose vivid 
green forms a beautiful contrast to the deep blue of 
the sea. 

At 10,30 last evening we had a shower and a light 
squall, and " Stand by your sky-sail-halliards" was 
the order of the day, or, rather, night. How grate- 
fully this order " Stand by your halliards" sounded 
to our ears ! It showed that there really was some 
wind left. For three weeks the only orders given 
by the skipper were " Keep her full there," to the 
helmsman, whenever the baffling airs headed us off a 
little ; or, " Mr, Kelly, if the wind heads us any more, 
we'll put the ship about." Therefore, when the order 
came to mind the halliards, the words carried with 
them an inspiring enthusiasm. Latitude, 26° 8' 
north ; longitude, 40° 37' west. 

July 31 

When I went on deck at half-past seven this 
morning the wind was much stronger, but had 
shifted to east by north. A couple of hours later, 
though, it went back to northeast true, and we are 
now sure of the Trades. The skipper has altered 
the course to southeast by east, so that, even with 
the wind at northeast, we are nearly close-hauled. 
It is lovely sailing, though, and we slide through the 
water without perceptible motion, and heeling just 
enough to bring the lee scuppers every now and 

74 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

then flush with the water. The sail-makers are 
hard at work on a new upper maintop-sail, though 
the little mate seems to know as much if not more 
about the business than either of the sail-makers. 
I cannot cease wondering at the immensely long 
threads the men use ; for, after thrusting the great 
three-cornered needle through the canvas, they haul 
on the thread hand over hand till nine or ten yards 
come through before it is taut. They manage to 
keep it clear from fouling, though how they can 
handle such a length of thread is a mystery. 

I think the skipper has a very good opinion of 
the mate, though he takes very good care not to 
let him see it; and really Mr. Ryan is the busiest 
and handiest chief-officer I ever saw. Whatever he 
does, he does with his whole soul ; and when he 
jumps down to lend a hand at the braces, which he 
often does, he lifts his short, little, dumpy body clear 
off the deck with every heave, so fiercely does he 
throw his weight into his work. In this respect he 
is the antithesis of the second mate, who never lays 
hold of a brace if he can help it, and who passes his 
time in growling at the men, the food, and the 
weather. The men haven't much respect for him, 
owing to his mixing more or less with them, though 
not to such an extent as the boson, who is as af- 
fable and genial with the foremast hands as though 
he were one of them. Last evening he amused him- 
self by heaving rice-cakes about in the midship- 
house ; the mate has long had his eye on him, and 
he thought this a capital chance to swoop down 
on him. So Mr. Ryan slipped very quietly into the 

75 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

cabin and told the skipper that the boson didn't 
seem to fancy his evening repast, and was chucking 
rice-cakes at the carpenter. Captain Kingdon at 
once put down his sewing and passed out on the 
main-deck ; but in some unaccountable manner the 
boson got wind of what was going on, and when 
the skipper walked by the door of the deck-house 
and looked in everything was quite serene, the 
boson in the act of lighting a clay pipe. 

It is curious how handy most deep-water skippers 
are with the needle and thread. Of course, the 
reason is to be found in the fact that they are 
thrown entirely on their own resources and are 
compelled to do all their own mending, etc. But 
it is astonishing what skill Captain Kingdon has 
acquired in the seamstress's art, and he " herring- 
bones" and darns as well as any woman I ever saw. 
My wife's black skirt, for instance, has been the 
object of attack for Pete the monkey for some time, 
the entire front being reduced to a mere net-work 
of slits from the monk's teeth. But Captain King- 
don mended it so skilfully that at a distance it looks 
all right. When you do not see him pacing the 
deck in the day-time, step below and you will find 
him shored up in a corner of the sofa in his room 
with a pile of worn-out garments in front of him, 
hard at work with needle and thread. 

I have just been reading, in an old copy of the 
Maritime Register, of a fast run made by the 
American ship " John McDonald" on her last voy- 
age. She left New York for Frisco on March 
9, and on April 9 she was spoken in 9° south 

76 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

and 31° west. Not phenomenal, yet we have been 
out the same length of time and have not yet crossed 
the Tropic of Cancer. Latitude, 24° 31' north; 
longitude, 36° 50' west, 

August 1 

The Trades are not as strong as they might be, 
and we made only one hundred and thirty-four miles 
yesterday ; but this seems to us fast going, and every 
one wears a smile. Quite a little diversion took 
place to-day; and if Captain Kingdon were not a 
mild-tempered man, there would have been a lively 
ten minutes this morning. There is on board an 
English seaman who holds a master's certificate, and 
this man is what is known as a sea-lawyer; and, 
being well educated in comparison with the rest of the 
men, his arguments are convincing to them, and he 
invents all kinds of grievances and, of course, talks or 
tries to talk the men into his way of thinking. He 
looks to be a sour-tempered fellow, and this forenoon 
he made the most extraordinary remark to the skip- 
per I ever heard. We had had a shower in the 
middle watch, and tubs had been placed under the 
poop-deck scuppers to catch the rain-water, which 
was then carried over in buckets and thrown into the 
big casks lashed on either side of the mizzen-hatch 
coamings. The Englishman before alluded to was 
ordered to do this job; so he went to work in his 
usual slouchy way, and each time that he lifted a 
bucket of water from the tub he purposely spilled 
about half of it on the deck before he reached the 
cask. This hadn't been going on long before it 

77 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

caught the skipper's eye, and, waiting till the man 
made one more trip, spilling the precious water, he 
went down on the main-deck and, catching hold of 
the man's shoulder, said to him, " What do you mean 
by that? don't you see you're wasting the water?" 
The man's answer ought to go down to posterity: 
" Take care, Cap'n ; you're not on an American ship 
now." Oh, ye Gods ! Think of that ! But, for the 
benefit of those who may not exactly understand 
what he meant, I must explain that on many Ameri- 
can sailing-ships the skipper resorts to various ex- 
pedients such as capstan-bars, iron belaying-pins, and 
other persuasives in dealing with refractory men, 
with the result that the discipline and obedience on a 
deep-water ship flying the stars and stripes is that 
of a man-of-war. Now, this jewel who answered the 
skipper in such remarkable language had probably 
sailed under the stars and stripes and knew whereof 
he spoke ; and was also aware that Captain Kingdon 
is an American sailing under the English flag, which 
is a very different thing. As for the laws governing 
the merchant marines of England and the United 
States, I believe that they are about the same in 
both countries, and I cannot account for the differ- 
ence in the skippers of the two nations, except that 
in America the laws are not enforced as rigidly as 
they are on the other side. That is, our skippers 
take the law into their own hands ; often necessary 
when dealing with some of the devils that ship before 
the mast. 

I did not hear what Captain Kingdon said to the 
man who answered him as above related ; I thought, 

78 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

and very naturally too, that a disturbance of con- 
siderable magnitude was imminent, and, not wish- 
ing to be a witness in a court of law to any blood- 
shed that might follow, I walked around the other 
side of the deck-house and fell to studying the ship's 
wake. I subsequently heard from the mate, whose 
watch it was, that discipline was maintained after the 
most approved Down East style, and that the man 
with the master's ticket has awakened to the fact that, 
though mild-mannered generally, Captain Kingdon 
can show his teeth on occasion when necessity re- 
quires it. 

This sort of an encounter always gives rise to 
reminiscences, and the second mate, who had the 
afternoon watch, spun terrific yarns of his past life, 
the accounts of his personal deeds of valor being 
singularly impossible, though none the less enter- 
taining. 

At about eight this morning we entered the north 
tropic zone, crossing the circle of Cancer at that 
hour. At noon we were in latitude 23° north ; Ion- , 
gitude, 36° 10' west. 

August 2 

The Trades are getting lighter and the poor skipper 
is in despair, particularly when he recalls that last 
voyage he was making two hundred and twenty 
miles a day in this locality. When he has worked 
up the sight and pricked the ship's position off in 
the chart, and finds how little we made in the twenty- 
four hours, he looks so disappointed that I really 
feel very sorry for him. 

79 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Heretofore I had always supposed that when the 
skipper and mate of a vessel were waiting to catch 
the sun at noon, each compared his altitude with 
the other's as the sun approached the zenith, for the 
sake of accuracy. But from the time Captain King- 
don comes up the companion-way, at twenty minutes 
or thereabouts before noon, until he gruffly calls out 
"eight bells" to the helmsman, not a single word 
does he exchange with Mr. Ryan. Often have I seen 
the mate hold the sextant to his eye three or four 
minutes after the skipper had gone below, and swear 
that he got 66° 28' to the "old man's" ed"" \V. 
My wife and I always go into the captain's room as 
soon as eight bells have gone, where we find him 
bending over his work, bringing the ship's position 
up from where his morning sight put her at seven 
o'clock to the noon position. Then down comes 
the big chart of the North Atlantic that he has used 
for sixteen consecutive voyages, and he marks our 
position on it by a large dot, drawing a line in ink 
from yesterday's position to that of to-day, to show 
the course we have made. This work over, out 
comes the bottle of " Square Face," and the skipper 
and I indulge in a wineglassful of Holland schnapps, 
to recuperate us after the dismal reflections inci- 
dent to the discovery that, during the past twenty- 
four hours, we averaged only five knots, or whatever 
the speed may have been. At dinner, which is ready 
at 12.15, the captain often says, " Where'd you put 
her at noon, Mr. Ryan?" Then the mate fetches 
his pad and answers "26° 18', sir." The skipper 
claims that that isn't right, and then they have an 

80 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

argument about altitudes and various other things, 
which often ends in the mate's being right, for Cap- 
tain Kingdon's eyes are not the best and sometimes 
his threes look like fives. 

After all, though, the navigation of a vessel is one 
of the smallest duties that fall on the shoulders of the 
blue-water skipper. His most arduous task, it seems 
to me, is in so handling the men under him that 
everything shall run smoothly. This is a far more 
difficult task than the average unthinking person has 
any idea of. But if one will give the case only a 
few minutes' thought, he will see at once how hard 
it must be to maintain harmony and a certain amount 
of peace among twenty-five or thirty men shut up 
in a small space for months at a time. The long- 
voyage skipper must possess self-restraint more than 
anythihg else, and not a single day passes but that 
he has to exercise forbearance in some degree. If he 
is experienced, he treats the men like children, for 
their whims are sometimes childish to the last degree. 
The following example shows it: A certain ship 
arrived in New York not long ago from Pisagua, 
after a passage of one hundred and seventeen days. 
The men were a pretty good lot from all accounts, 
but the skipper was more or less of a brute ; and he 
and his officers hammered the men about in a shock- 
ing manner, laying three or four of them up in the 
ship's hospital. The men swore vengeance as soon 
as they should get ashore. The captain saw plainly 
that things would go against him in court ; and he 
ordered, to pacify them, that good plum-duff and 
soft bread should be served out to the men several 
6 8i 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

times during the last fortnight of the voyage ; and so 
pleased were they with what they got, that never a 
word did one of them utter against skipper or mates, 
though many went over the side with bandaged 
heads. Thus it will be seen that foremast hands are 
almost childlike ; and if the various masters of square- 
riggers would occasionally humor the men, without, 
of course, letting them know it, nearly all the trouble 
on some ships would be avoided. In nearly every ves- 
sel, though, there are one or more sea-lawyers, who, 
if they have no cause for complaint, invent one, and 
talk their shipmates into making a row. Muzzle these 
devils, and most crews will be as tractable as sheep. 

One often hears it said that no one ever has a cold 
at sea ; but I can contradict that statement from my 
own experience. It is my custom to pass an hour or 
more every evening at the harmonium. The cabin 
becomes very hot indeed after the lamps have been 
ht, and this, added to the work of pumping the organ 
with the feet, soon makes the perspiration run in 
streams down one's face. A couple of evenings ago, 
after one of these seances, I went over to the lee side 
of the poop, and sat down where there was a tre- 
mendous draught out of the cross-jack. I cooled 
off almost instantly, with the natural result that I 
have one of the worst colds on record. Latitude, 
21° 6' north; longitude, 35° 30' west. 

August 3 

The wind was lighter to-day, but still fair, which 
means that the Trades are nothing to the eastward 
of northeast. 

82 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

It is singular that there are scarcely any sea-birds 
about ; I thought that Mother Carey's chickens were 
to be seen in all parts of the world. It is true 
that at very long intervals we occasionally see one 
or two of these sprightly little birds, but, generally 
speaking, not a feathered creature is in sight. As 
for the gulls, they left us at the Gulf Stream. I 
came across a theory the other day, in a book called 
" On Blue Water," as to the name of Mother Carey's 
chickens ; it was this : Sailors, many years ago, used 
to believe, when they saw the stormy petrels skim- 
ming over the waves five hundred miles from land, 
that they carried their eggs and young in the feathers 
under their wings, and it was therefore said that the 
mother carries chickens. How true this etymology 
may be it is not for me to say, yet it sounds pos- 
sible. 

Just before we left New York a friend of the mate 
gave him a little dog, a kind of water-spaniel he 
seemed to be ; for a week or so he was as well and 
strong as possible, and used to stand watch with Mr. 
Ryan every night, and everybody seemed to like the 
little creature. By and by, though, he began to pine 
away for some unknown reason, and continued to 
grow worse until it became apparent that the only 
way to ease his sufferings was to shoot him or heave 
him over the side. The mate hated to do it, but, 
seeing that it was the best thing to do, he put him 
into a gunny sack with a couple of links of old 
chain, and just before breakfast this morning dropped 
him gently over the lee side, the chain-links sinking 
the bag at once out of sight. I am very much afraid 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

that the captain's setter will follow suit before we get 
to the line, for he continues to waste away, and is so 
thin as to be almost transparent. He and Pete are 
the best sort of friends, and, weak as poor Bang is, 
he always has strength enough for a five minutes' 
riot with the monk. The latter keeps wonderfully 
well, and is the Hfe of the whole ship. He hasn't 
managed to slip his chain yet, but when he does get 
adrift he'll show the men how to go aloft in the most 
approved fashion. Latitude, 19° 17' north; longi- 
tude, 34° 10' west. 

August 4 

This was a cloudy, somewhat chilly day, and the 
first one to be overcast since we left the Gulf Stream. 
But this is the rainy season in the West Indies, and, 
though we are fifteen hundred miles to the eastward 
of those islands, yet I should think that the same 
meteorological conditions hold good here. We have 
been making fairly good progress, yet not so good 
by half as we should have done. 

After watching several men at the wheel upon 
several occasions, I have come to the conclusion 
that as soon as a man grasps the spokes to stand his 
trick at the wheel he becomes at once a piece of 
machinery. He never seems to pay the least atten- 
tion to what he is doing, from the time he takes the 
course from the man he relieves, till he growls out 
" Southeast by east" to him whose next turn it is to 
grind water for two hours. I have seen Carson rest 
his face (when the officer of the watch was busy on 
the main-deck) on his hand that grasped one of the 

84 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

spokes, and remain in that position for minutes at a 
time, his mind apparently thousands of miles away. 
Then he shifts his position slightly, glances into the 
compass-bowl with the same vacant expression, and 
then again relapses into unconsciousness. When this 
had been going on upon one occasion for half an 
hour, while Mr. Ryan was helping to cut out a patch 
for the inner jib, I stepped to the standard compass 
expecting to find the ship at least a point off her 
course ; but I was astonished to see that she was no 
more than a degree out, — in other words, practically 
upon her course. If the man's face was an indication 
of his mind, his thoughts were anywhere but on the 
ship ; and yet during that time he had been steering 
with almost perfect accuracy, never varying probably 
more than two degrees. I have also watched the 
men steering in light weather, when the ship was on 
the wind and a light swell running. Now, it is difficult 
to tell whether the weather leeches are shaking from 
being too close or from the send of the ship as she 
goes into a sea. But a man like Carson, and one or 
two of the others as well, will, if they can, doze through 
their tricks, waking up every five minutes or so long 
enough to glance at the mizzen-sky-sail and alter the 
helm a spoke or two, and then return again to castle- 
building. The mate often clatters noisily down the 
forward companion-way on dark nights, and then in a 
few minutes stealthily returns and looks at the stand- 
ard compass ; but so far he has failed to catch one 
of the men off his course. Our speed is not more 
than six knots on the average, instead of eight or 
nine, and perhaps ten, if the ship were clean. At 

85 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

noon we were in latitude i8° north; longitude, 32° 
44' west. 

Sunday, August 5 

Five weeks at sea to-day, and, from the present 
prospects, our chances of being five months on the 
voyage are exceptionally good. I am going to give 
the " Mandalore" one hundred and forty days to Cal- 
cutta, and doubt not but that I will hit pretty near 
the mark. Personally, I would just as soon be two 
hundred and forty as one hundred and forty, but I 
dare say I'm alone in that sentiment. 

We were in the latitude of Dominica to-day, and 
the heavens at night are beginning to shov/ evidence 
that we are approaching the low latitudes. Ursa 
Major, the Pole Star, and other constellations and 
stars of this hemisphere are sinking low in the 
northern sky; while the Southern-Cross must be 
visible, though we have not yet been able to see it, 
owing to a heavy bank of clouds that at night shrouds 
the southern-sea line. In Nassau, where I have 
spent many winters, numbers of people at the Royal 
Victoria Hotel rise at three in the morning and 
climb up into the cupola, whence it is said that the 
Cross is visible between three and four o'clock, 
although the latitude of Nassau is 25° 5' north. 
Sea-captains insist that the Cross is visible nowhere 
north of the twenty-first parallel ; I never have seen 
it from the hotel in Nassau, and I believe the mariners 
are right. 

A painful accident happened to the carpenter this 
forenoon. He was doing some work in the store- 

86 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

room, which is right in the stem abaft the com- 
panion-way, making some wooden bins for flour and 
sugar, when a heavy chisel slipped off one of the 
bins and fell with its razor-like edge on the ankle- 
bone of Chips's left foot. As he was bare-footed, he 
didn't have the protection of even thin shoes, and 
the chisel cut right into the bone, chipping off a piece 
about the size of one's finger-nail. Chips is a very 
agreeable sort of fellow, and I was almost as sorry 
for the accident as he was ; fortunately, we have at 
least three weeks more of warm weather ahead of us, 
so that there will be no necessity for his wearing 
shoes until the wound has healed up; but it has 
knocked him out, so to speak, and he is in his bunk. 
Chips seems to be a cut above the other men who 
bunk with him in the midship-house. His mates are 
the Cook, boson, and the two boys. He is a Nor- 
wegian, very taciturn, and somewhat pock-marked. 
Wonderful to tell, he sleeps on good clean sheets ; 
the only ones in the ship outside of the cabin. A 
very comfortable steamer-chair that he put together 
bears evidence of his ingenuity, and all day on Sun- 
day he may be found lying in it at full length, read- 
ing, of which pastime he seems immoderately 
fond. 

We made but little yesterday, and at noon to-day 
we were in latitude i6° 19' north; longitude, 33° 28' 
west. 

August 6 

This morning was a glorious one, with a fine breeze 
and bright sunshine. Yesterday the sun was directly 

^7 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

overhead, so that there was no shadow cast by any- 
thing at all at noon. Twice a year, about the twenty- 
third of September and the twenty-first of March, 
the sun crosses the hne and commences his southerly 
or northerly declination, inclining towards the north 
from March to September, or during our summer 
months. On these dates the sun on the equator at 
noon is ninety degrees from the horizon, or at the 
zenith, and there is then, of course, no shadow cast 
from anything. Between the two dates above men- 
tioned the sun is advancing half of the time, till it 
reaches an angle of 23° 28' (which it reaches on 
June 21, making the longest day in the year, the 
shortest being the corresponding date in December, 
when the sun's declination is towards the south), and 
then again recedes till it once more stands perpen- 
dicularly over the line, and farther until it is over- 
head at the Tropic of Capricorn. Our declination at 
noon yesterday was approximately seventeen degrees, 
and, as our latitude was about 16° 20', there was so 
little difference between the two that there was no 
visible shadow thrown by anything at the noon hour. 
If this were November 6 instead of August 6, we 
would have the sun inclining towards the south 
seventeen degrees instead of the north, and it would 
have been necessary for us to be on the seventeenth 
parallel of south latitude in order to have the sun 
overhead at mid-day. 

At one this afternoon the wind freshened a bit and 
blew from east-northeast, giving us about eight knots, 
which would mean eleven if the ship were clean. 
Latitude, 14° 15' north; longitude, 32° west. 

88 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

August 7 

This was another magnificent day, with a fine strong 
breeze over the quarter from northeast. How grand 
it is to rush over the water like this, with every sail 
rounded out hard and motionless as though carved 
out of stone, each one drawing to the utmost ! The 
" Mandalore" is under all possible sail, and must 
present a splendid appearance a third of a mile 
away. 

Quite a little excitement arose this morning when, 
with a loud crack, the stick of wood to which the 
fishing-line is secured snapped in two. The skipper 
thought it was an albicore or something that would 
be edible, and at once visions of messes of fresh 
boiled fish arose and appeared unto us. But, lo ! it 
was a wretched shark, and not much of a one at that. 
He was quite large enough, though, to severely cut 
two of my fingers, as I endeavored to coax him along 
with the cod-line. We got him up under the coun- 
ter by skilful manipulation, and then the skipper 
made a gallant effort to fasten him with the harpoon ; 
but the weapon either turned aside or bent double 
against the hard, leathery hide. At length we per- 
suaded him up abreast of the mizzen-shrouds, and 
the skipper, diving suddenly down the companion- 
way, reappeared almost instantly with a thirty-eight- 
calibre Winchester rifle, and put three big chunks of 
lead into him, and the steward three more with an 
old revolver. Then a running bow-line was passed 
over his tail, and Mr. Shark was hoisted aboard with 
many acclamations of joy from the men; for all 
sailors exhibit the most insane delight at the capture 

89 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

of one of these blood-hounds of the sea. Three 
little suckers were sticking to the shark, but they let 
go in a minute, and went wriggling about the deck, 
giving us an excellent chance to examine them. 
They are small, scaleless fish about a foot long, and 
present no unusual appearance until you turn one 
over on its back, when you will see that the ventral 
fins are united into a corrugated, circular, concave 
disc, which acts as a sucker and enables them to 
cling with astonishing power to any object. I fancy 
that a shark's skin, being rough like fine sand-paper, 
affords an, excellent holding-ground for suckers, as it 
was necessary to use great strength to detach one 
from the shark's side. We cut the latter's stomach 
open to see what its contents were, and found it 
absolutely empty, — a fact that accounted for the 
shark's taking the hook while we were moving at so 
smart a gait through the water ; for these beasts, as a 
general rule, will not even smell a lump of pork-fat 
if it is towing faster than a mile or so an hour. 

Before we came to sea I made a business of read- 
ing up in the " Encyclopedia Britannica" all the in- 
formation I could get of the shark tribe, and was 
astonished to find that one hundred and fifty different 
species are recognized by ichthyologists ! The 
family is divided, I suppose for convenience, into 
littoral and pelagic sharks, meaning those that are 
found close to the shore and those that inhabit the 
deep solitudes of the open sea. The former, as 
might be expected, are much smaller than their deep- 
sea brethren, and are generally five or six feet long. 
Perhaps the handsomest of the whole tribe is the 

90 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

tiger-shark of the Indian Ocean ; it is from twelve 
to fifteen feet in length and is a sort of yellowish 
brown in color, with a number of dark-brown, well- 
defined bands running around the body. The species 
is easily distinguished by its long, pliable tail, which 
is half the length of the whole animal. Everybody 
who has been off soundings has seen the common 
blue shark ; it is by far the commonest of the species, 
and all those that we have caught have been of this 
kind. They vary greatly in size, from six to twenty 
feet in length, according to locality. The largest of 
all the tribe is the great basking-shark of the Indo- 
Pacific Ocean. It is positively known to attain a 
length of fifty feet, and it is probable that they exceed 
that figure. Very few specimens have ever been 
taken ; in fact, there are only five basking-sharks 
whose size has been accurately and authentically 
determined. One was captured near the Cape of 
Good Hope, two near the Seychelles, in the Indian 
Ocean, one on the coast of California, and one on 
the Peruvian coast. It is thought that sharks do 
not descend farther than three hundred fathoms. 

We made fine progress yesterday, and to-day we 
were in latitude n° 39' north; longitude, 31° 30' 
west. 

August 8 

Last evening we had heavy rain for two hours and 
filled two casks for washing purposes, as we never 
drink the rain-water ; nor is it ever given to the crew 
unless the tank-water shows signs of giving out. 
We went to sea with six thousand gallons of excel- 

91 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

lent water (croton-water, I fancy) in two large gal- 
vanized-iron tanks built into the ship in an upright 
position. This water is used entirely fore and aft, 
each man's allowance being three quarts per day for 
all purposes ; the water for the cabin is not restricted, 
though of course no one would waste even a wine- 
glassful. It is a curious fact that all sailors, from 
'prentices to captains, never leave a morsel of food 
on their plates when they have finished a meal, and 
they always drink every drop of water they have 
poured out. I am speaking now with reference to the 
skipper and the two mates. They never put more on 
their plates or in their tumblers than they can stow 
away, and the former shine from the universal habit 
sailors have of swabbing up whatever gravy and 
juices may be left on their plates with pieces of bread. 
At three this morning we had a squall from south- 
east and took in the sky-sails for it, and at six we 
tacked ship with the wind at south. It is dreadful 
to think of, but we fear we've lost the Trades. They 
carried us through fifteen degrees of latitude and we 
expected to lose them in about io° north. For the 
ensuing week, though it may not be so long, we must 
expect light southwesterly winds and calms until we 
take the southeast Trades, three or four degrees north 
of the equator. We are now on the northern edge of 
the great Belt of Equatorial Calms, the most dis- 
agreeable region in the north or south Atlantic, 
where tremendous thunder-storms and frequent 
heavy rain-squalls are met with. When once a ship 
has passed through the six or seven degrees of lati- 
tude that at this season separate the northeast and 

92 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

southeast Trades, she has experienced the last light 
weather she is likely to have till she loses the south- 
east Trades in the Indian Ocean if she is bound to the 
East; for the southeast trade-wind in the Atlantic 
is generally fairly strong and sometimes very strong, 
so that a ship close hauled has as much canvas as 
she can carry under a maintop-gallant. 

It sometimes happens that during July, August, 
or September a hurricane will descend upon this 
part of the ocean, although as a general thing they 
do not extend so far to the eastward. In August, 
1878, however, a hurricane started near the thirty- 
fifth meridian and the fifteenth parallel, and, sweeping 
in a northwesterly direction with tremendous vio- 
lence, passed between Bermuda and Hatteras, and 
then off to the northeast, expending itself on the 
Newfoundland Banks. The time occupied in the 
passage of this celebrated hurricane from a position 
fifteen hundred miles to the eastward of Guadeloupe 
to Cape Race was fourteen days, or from August 
14 to 28, Latitude at noon, 10° 42' north ; longi- 
tude, 31° 7' west. 

August 9 

The weather has grown sultry and hot. We have 
it 83° in our room at night now, which I ascertained 
by the light of a match, so that the lamp could not 
affect the thermometer. Many will say that they 
have experienced a greater heat than this, but it is 
the terrible humidity and suffocating closeness of 
the air that are so overpowering. Besides, 83° in 
one's bedroom ashore, where the dampness is not 

93 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

comparatively great, would keep most people awake 
nearly all night. Why we have no thunder-storms 
is to me very odd, as this seems just the right 
weather for them. For the heavens are covered 
with thick, dark clouds, some of them very alarming 
to look at; while a gray, vapor-like, thin smoke 
hangs over the sea-line. As it is growing hotter 
every hour, I cannot but think it will end in a violent 
thunder-squall. 

Several times lately I have heard the seaman with 
the master's license, who made the disturbance with 
the water the other day, whistling airs from grand 
operas with considerable taste. So this evening, 
when I noticed that he was standing abreast of the 
galley with his arms on the rail, apparently studying 
the sky to windward, I went up to him and asked 
him if he were a musician. When he told me that 
he was it did not surprise me, for no one but a mu- 
sician would whistle airs from " Aida" and " Tann- 
hauser." He told me, further, that when he was 
a young man he used to spend all his spare money, 
when he was in any great city, in going to hear the 
best music in the place ; and in those days he was 
considered a good violinist for a man who could not 
devote much time to the art. This evening, while 
he is doing his trick at the wheel, I am going to 
play some of " Don Giovanni" and the " Magic 
Flute" on the harmonium and ask him to-morrow 
if he knows them. 

What a pity it is to see an educated man like this 
doing the work of a foremast hand ! It is, of course, 
the old, gray-bearded yarn about rum. At least, I 

94 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

suppose it is, for I can imagine nothing else that 
could sink a man from master to seaman in the 
British merchant service. What must his thoughts 
be as he glances at the poop and thinks " I used to 
be there pacing the weather side instead of tearing 
my finger-nails off furling the sails for every squall, 
— in absolute command of all I saw ; a monarch who 
could do no wrong; powerful as a Russian czar !" I 
often watch him as he dreams out his watch below, 
generally sitting on deck with his legs stretched out 
in front of him, his back against the forecastle-house, 
gazing out over the side at the horizon, perhaps plot- 
ting some sinister scheme ; for, as I remarked before, 
he is a sea-lawyer. 

Dan, the English boy, got a taste of a rope's end 
this afternoon, as he is addicted to stopping in his 
work on the poop to skylark with Pete, the monkey. 
Once a week all the brasswork on the poop is pol- 
ished, and when the work is done the " Mandalore" 
has quite a yacht-like appearance, the binnacle-hoods, 
ship's bell, cabin-door knobs, and the caps on the 
wheel-spokes shining away like little suns. It was 
while the unfortunate Dan was supposed to be pol- 
ishing the hood of the standard compass that the 
hawk-eye of Mr. Ryan perceived the unsuspecting 
youth teasing Pete with a bit of spun-yarn. The 
mate said nothing, but passed through the forward 
companion-way into the cabin, picking up as he went 
an old, worn-out becket that lay near a water-cask. 
He reappeared again via the after companion-way so 
noiselessly that the first indication Dan had of his 
presence was the swish of the short, hard piece of 

95 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

rope just before it descended upon his jacket. Dan 
ejected a yell of agony, cleared the big cabin-sky- 
light at a single leap, made a dive for the forward 
companion-way, but missed his footing and bumped 
in a sitting posture down the brass-bound steps lead- 
ing to the main-deck; and just as he reached the 
bottom he was saluted on the side of his face with 
a coil of cod-line that the mate had spied on the 
wheel-grating. Although this sounds somewhat 
bloodthirsty, the whole affair was most amusing; 
particularly as Dan is an exceedingly fat and lazy 
individual, and it was the only occasion on which I 
ever saw him exhibit the least degree of vivacity in 
his movements. 

We made scarcely any southing yesterday ; indeed, 
at noon to-day we found ourselves only forty-two 
miles nearer the equator than we were yesterday. 
Our position at noon was : Latitude, io° north ; longi- 
tude, 30° 15' west. 

August 10 

It rained all this afternoon in tremendous down- 
pours, with an almost total absence of wind. In con- 
sequence, the rain found its way again through our 
closed port and once more transformed our floor into 
a diminutive pond. The discomfort of this can only 
be imagined by those who have themselves experi- 
enced it. If the floor were only varnished, the water 
could be mopped up as fast as it ran in ; but as it is 
of soft pine, it absorbs water like a sponge. I no- 
ticed the fact of our floor being unvarnished before 
we left New York; but Captain Kingdon was so 

96 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

kind to us in other ways that I did not like to ask 
him to have the floor of this, the mate's, room shel- 
lacked. The water might have continued to percolate 
in for an indefinite length of time had I not hit upon 
a plan to stop it. Underneath the rim of the port is 
a wooden V, at the apex of which is a hole through 
which the water that finds its way in is supposed to 
run and escape through proper channels on to the 
main-deck. But these channels were not in order ; 
so I fitted a cork tightly in the hole, put a soft towel 
in the V to absorb the moisture as it trickled in, and 
lo ! thenceforward we had a dry floor. Of course, 
if by chance we should neglect to wring the towel 
out every two or three hours, the result would be 
disastrous ; for the water, now that the proper vent 
is plugged up, would overflow the V and run down 
into our bunk, which is immediately under the port. 
As a matter of fact, though, we have several times 
ere this reposed on moist sheets, as it is almost im- 
possible to remember to jump below and close your 
ports for every spit of rain. 

The eating on board is still of the same standard 
it was a month ago, and in that line, and indeed in 
all others, there is nothing to complain of. The four 
little pigs are growing very rapidly, and are getting 
along famously. Two or three times a week the 
door of their pen — or cage, more properly — is opened 
during the morning watch, and with the most blood- 
curdling shrieks and yells the little porkers tumble 
out for a scramble on the main-deck. What with 
the crowing and cackling of the fowls and the cries 
of the pigs, one's mind goes back to the barn-yard, 
7 97 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

and all that is needed in the way of farm-yard noises 
is the lowing of cattle. The men have a merry run 
when they undertake to capture the pigs after their 
hour of recreation is passed. It takes all hands and 
the cook to catch one, for they have the greatest 
faculty for slipping out of narrow corners and through 
one's legs at the critical moment. Once a week a 
shovelful of soft coal is thrown to the pigs, in chunks 
the size of potatoes, and the way they fight for it is 
a caution. Landsmen will find it hard to believe, but 
it is none the less true, that in three or four minutes 
not a vestige of the coal remains in the pen. I fancy 
that the pigs eat it for the same reason that fowls 
ashore eat sand and gravel. 

Our leathery chickens still continue to furnish us 
with wholly indigestible food, and we all of us dread 
Sundays and Thursdays. On these days the really . 
tempting-looking birds are placed on the table before 
the captain at noon. He always looks sad when the 
creature is brought in, for he knows he has ten or 
fifteen minutes' hard work before him. It takes him 
some time before he can insert the fork into the piti- 
less bosom, and at length, after ten minutes of stab- 
bing, hacking, and wrenching, the unyielding bird is 
rent asunder, while the skipper sits down, breathing 
hard and quite red in the face from the exercise. 
The only edible part of the bird is a small piece on 
each side of the breast-bone, the rest bearing more 
resemblance to lignmn-vitce than chicken. 

We still continue to make very little headway 
through the water, and to-day's sights put us in lati- 
tude 9° 33' north; longitude, 29° west. 

98 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

August ii 

Rain ! rain ! ! rain ! ! ! The skipper says he never 
saw so much in this part of the ocean. And truly 
to be in a downpour Hke that of this forenoon was a 
remarkable experience. It is also rather strange that 
we have sighted no vessels lately, although this is 
just the locality where so many are reported in the 
New York Herald. 

Last night in the middle watch, at about half-past 
two, I heard a terrible din coming from the mate's 
room. He exploded in several demoniacal yells that 
split the air like a knife, and I thought he was in 
mortal combat with one of the men. This belief was 
for a time confirmed by blows descending with great 
force upon various parts of the wood-work, and I 
rememJDered the short, loaded club that Mr. Ryan 
keeps behind his door for refractory seamen. The 
combat seemed to deepen, and for five minutes there 
was a perfect whirlwind of blows. Suddenly all was 
still. I listened for some minutes, but, hearing nothing 
further, I dropped off to sleep. At breakfast, as the 
mate was helping himself to a double portion of 
burgoo and molasses, he said to Captain Kingdon, 
"Did you hear me killin' the rat last night, sir?" 
The skipper looked at him with open mouth, so sur- 
prised that all he could say was, " Well, I'm damned." 
*' Yes, sir," continued the mate ; " one ran into me 
room through the air-space over the door, and I 
killed it with me club." " So I should think, from 
the noise," quoth the skipper. 

I am now far enough advanced to give my wife 
lessons in the simpler branches of navigation, which I 

99 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

do every morning about ten. She finds the different 
sailings very hard to separate from each other, and 
constantly confuses Mercator's with Middle Latitude 
sailing. She can work a traverse table all right, 
though, and work a noon sight, and when the horizon 
is clear she can catch the sun and bring it down to 
the horizon without any difficulty. 

When I work up the ship's position every day I 
always use " 89° 48' " in computing latitude instead 
of laboriously figuring out the corrections for dip, 
parallax, and refraction, the 1 2' generally subtracted 
by merchant-skippers from 90° being so close to 
what the absolute correction would be as to give 
satisfactory results. Should a professor of nautical 
astronomy happen upon the foregoing, I can fancy 
how he throws up his hands in horror at such naviga- 
tion ; but, in my opinion, a simple method that one 
can utilize without reference to an epitome or a book 
of tables, that will put the ship nearly always within 
one mile of her true position, is sufficiently accurate. 
I have never known the error caused by using 89° 
48' to be more than a mile and a half, and have often 
found it to be less than half a mile out ; once the two 
methods worked out exactly the same. On board a 
man-of-war for the sake of discipline, or on a coast- 
survey steamer looking for an uncharted ledge or 
reef, it seems to me are the only cases where the 
absolutely accurate and lengthy method would be of 
much use. I have known people to say, " Why, how 
can a man navigate intelligently without knowing 
what dip, parallax, and refraction mean?" The 
answer to that is very simple: they (the skippers) 

100 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

generally don't navigate intelligently. By that I 
mean that they don't know the mathematical reasons 
for what they are doing ; and many of the men com- 
manding American long-voyage ships could not 
define any one of the three words given above, and 
probably never heard of a spherical triangle, though 
they solve one every time they work out a longitude 
sight, but not, it is scarcely necessary to say, by 
trigonometry. 

In Great Britain the examination for master is a 
very difficult one, and when a man takes command 
of an English ship he understands navigation 
thoroughly in a practical way, but not scientifically ; 
and he is a man of many resources. For instance : 
If he fails to get a noon observation, he finds his lati- 
tude by an ex-meridian or at night by the observa- 
tion of a planet. Or, if for some reason he misses 
both his A.M. and p.m. sights, he computes his longi- 
tude by sunrise and sunset contacts or by equal 
altitudes. Now, generally the American deep-water 
skipper is ignorant of any one of these four methods ; 
all that he uses is the day's work, latitude at noon, 
and longitude by the ordinary sights and Sumner's 
method ; the latter is a very useful process of finding 
the ship's position, especially when the latitude by 
dead-reckoning cannot be relied upon. It is an 
American invention or discovery, and is gradually 
being more and more used in England. 

One does not have to look far to find the reason 
why the average American skipper does not know 
as much navigation as the Englishman. It lies in 
the fact that, by some extraordinary means, no ex- 

lOI 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

aminatlon is necessary in the United States before a 
man takes command of a sailing-vessel, whether she 
is a clam-sloop or the finest square-rigger under the 
flag ! In other words, anybody who had never even 
seen the ocean can, if the owners and underwriters 
are willing, command any sailing-vessel under the 
Stars and Stripes ! In the case of steamers it is dif- 
ferent ; a rigid examination takes place before a man 
can go in command of a steamer, big or little ; and 
why the same law doesn't exist relative to sailing- 
vessels is altogether beyond me. It will be seen, 
then, that the American ship-master is not to blame 
if he doesn't understand as many branches of navi- 
gation as the English skippers, for he has to scull 
around and pick up what he can from time to time 
before he finally is given a ship. 

But that what he knows is really sufficient is shown 
by the fact that for the last fifty years the fastest 
long-voyage passages have been made by American 
ships ; and in nearly every instance, of one of our 
ships and an Englishman leaving a given port for 
one on the other side of the world, the American 
has arrived first. It is in seamanship and judgment 
in carrying sail that the Yankee skipper has no equal. 
In moments of real danger, the tighter he is squeezed, 
the cooler he grows. As, for instance, if it is neces- 
sary to wear ship in a heavy gale, no one can judge 
better than he just when to put the wheel up; or, if 
his vessel is dismasted, the Yankee can clear away 
the wreck and send his new spars and yards aloft so 
quickly that foreigners open their eyes in astonish- 
ment, simply because of his inborn knowledge of 

102 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

seamanship. To this knowledge is ascribed the fast 
passages made across the Western Ocean by the 
American clippers years ago, before the days of the 
California gold-fever. England did not at that time 
own a single line of packet ships between Liverpool 
and New York, and the trade of the Western Ocean, 
and, indeed, of the world, was carried in American 
ships. On one occasion, a large firm in Liverpool, 
James Baines & Co., actually contracted for a number 
of ships with Donald McKay, of Boston, for the Aus- 
tralian trade. Fancy England ordering ships in this 
country now ! Our fast-sailing ships culminated, as 
it were, in the " Dreadnought," of Newburyport, 
commanded by the famous Samuel Samuels. She 
was driven harder probably than any ship that ever 
floated, especially at night, when, if any forcing was 
to be done, Samuels never left the deck from dark 
till daylight. To this he ascribed his fast passages, 
carrying on to such an extent, yet judiciously withal, 
that the " Dreadnought" was called by sailors the 
" wild boat of the Atlantic." She was never passed in 
anything over a four-knot breeze, and her record 
from Sandy Hook to Daunt's Rock was nine days 
fourteen hours ; another record of hers was ten hun- 
dred and eighty knots in 72 hours, — just fifteen knots 
an hour for three days. Latitude at noon, 8° 46' 
north ; longitude, 28° 30' west. 

Sunday, August 12 

Six weeks at sea to-day, and we are yet seven de- 
grees from the line. There is a fresh breeze from 
south-southwest, though, and we are making good 

103 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

southeast quarter east, going six knots by the wind. 
Gracious, how it rained last night between eight and 
9.30! It was squally, too, and the sky-sails were 
stowed early in the evening. Still, through all the 
rain my port invention stood the test, and I am cer- 
tain that from now on we will have a dry floor. 

The second mate had as narrow an escape as most 
men ever experience, late this afternoon. We had a 
shift of wind very suddenly in a squall in the second 
dog-watch, which set the canvas slatting about like 
mad. Some time during the afternoon a watch- 
tackle had been clapped on to the main-tack to haul 
it taut, and, as some of the men (among whom was 
the second mate) were running aft to lend a hand at 
the after-braces, poor old Kelly was struck full in the 
chest by the watch-tackle block, which was thrashing 
about like a demon possessed. It laid the second 
mate flat on his back before he knew what had struck 
him ; and as he was quite insensible when picked up, 
we thought that his breast-bone had been crushed, 
and that the poor old man had stood his last watch. 
Three of the hands carried him into his bunk, where, 
after an examination by the captain, it was found 
that no bones had been broken, but he had been so 
completely knocked out that several minutes yet 
elapsed before he came to. He won't be fit for duty 
for three or four days at least, and he suffers great 
pain, being able to get no rest ; had the block struck 
him in the face or head, he would have been instantly 
killed. On fore-and-aft schooners one often hears 
of people being knocked down by one of the booms 
flying across the deck, but it cannot be compared with 

104 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the foregoing accident ; for a large spar is not nearly 
so deadly as a block flying about the decks at the 
clew of a big square-sail, as the blocks generally in 
use as purchases aboard ship would literally flatten a 
man's head. In the mean time, until the second mate 
recovers, the skipper will have to stand his watch, as 
the boson is entirely unfit to do it. 

The uninitiated will be surprised to hear that since 
we left New York the log has not once been put 
overboard; it seldom or never is on long-voyage 
ships. The reason is that the skipper and officers 
can, from long practice, estimate the speed very 
closely. The mate is the best hand I ever saw at 
the business, for he is so accurate in judging of the 
ship's speed that the dead-reckoning never differs 
more than two miles from the results obtained by 
observation, unless there has been a current of the 
existence of which he was ignorant. And so, strange 
as it may appear to landsmen, who have all their 
lives heard of " heaving the log," and what an im- 
portant event it used to be when the log-line in the 
old days was paid out over the stern, one of the 
officers standing by with the sand-glass in his hand, — 
strange as it may seem, I say, neither that old-fash- 
ioned but accurate device for ascertaining the ship's 
speed nor the comparatively new patent taffiail log 
is ever put overboard from a vessel on a long voyage 
unless on some special occasion. Coasters, of course, 
use the taffrail log continuously, and so do most 
steamers, — coasters as well as transatlantic. 

This is the first unpleasant Sunday we have had 
since leaving New York ; in the afternoon the rain 

105 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ceased, but we got no sight. So we gave her ninety 
miles of southing and two degrees of easting, which 
put us in latitude 7° 50' north; longitude, 26° 20' 
west. 

August 13 

Not so much rain has fallen in the last twenty-four 
hours, yet I cannot think the precipitation was less 
than two and a half inches. We have a nice little 
breeze that is shoving us through the water at six 
knots, and we are heading southeast by east; but 
even so, I think we will be fifty days to the line. 

My wife dropped a letter overboard to-day in a 
bottle, and we are wondering and estimating what 
will be its drift and where it will be picked up, if it 
ever is. Reference to the current-chart to-day 
showed that we are in the great equatorial current 
flowing northwest; so that our letter ought to be 
washed up on one of the Windward Islands. This 
equatorial current is a stupendous affair, and, accord- 
ing to our chart, seems to take origin in the Malacca 
Straits, flows in a northwesterly direction, following 
the coast-line of India ; then flows southwest, pass- 
ing between Madagascar and Africa and around 
Cape Agulhas, receiving the name of the Agulhas 
Current. Thence it flows northwest, crosses the 
line in the Atlantic where we are now, and then 
into the Caribbean Sea, and so into the Gulf of 
Mexico, whence it issues forth between Florida and 
Cuba under the well-known name of Gulf Stream, 
finally losing itself on the Norwegian coast. Thus, 
it extends in an unbroken line half-way round the 

106 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

globe, receiving different names in different local- 
ities, 

I shaved off my mustache yesterday, and when I 
went on deck where the monkey was he chattered 
away for some minutes, staring hard at me with a 
very puzzled look, trying to make out what was the 
matter with me. When I went close to him, though, 
the intelligent imp immediately put his hands on my 
upper lip, showing that he knew very well what the 
trouble was. It was surprising to observe so great 
a power of thinking in a little animal. I have not 
given a description of Pete ; so I'll devote a few lines 
to the little fellow forthwith. In the first place, he 
is not one of the mangy, moth-eaten, pitiful-looking 
animals with a prehensile tail that hail from South 
America and are carried about by organ-grinders. 
On the contrary, he is a very handsome beast of 
rather large size, with a beautiful thick coat of hair 
of a slightly greenish tinge, so that he is sometimes 
called the Green Monkey. Senegal, in West Africa, 
is his native land, and scientists call his breed Cerco- 
pithecus callithrichiis , the last word signifying " beau- 
tiful hair." The captain says he is the finest-looking 
of all the monkeys he has ever seen, and the old 
skipper is very fond of him. Mr. Kelly, the second 
mate, seems utterly unable to resist teasing Pete; 
whenever he has the watch on deck he is continually 
making passes at him and trying to pinch the end 
of his tail. Pete generally manages to sink his 
teeth once in old Kelly's hand during a watch, and on 
more than one occasion I have seen blood trickling 
from the ends of his fingers. 

107 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Captain Kingdon seems determined not to be 
jammed off Cape St. Roque, and for the past two 
days we have made a great deal of easting. At noon 
to-day we were in latitude 7° 20' north ; longitude, 
24° 10' west. 

August 14 

This is the first day on which we have had a sight 
since Saturday the eleventh, and it put us a good 
many miles to the northward of where we thought 
we were. Instead of being south of the fifth parallel 
as we supposed, our noon sight put us north of the 
sixth. We must have had a very strong current 
against us, and our error shows how deceptive and 
unreliable dead-reckoning is. Alas ! the poor skip- 
per! When he found that he was more than a 
degree north of where his dead-reckoning put him, 
he was in a bad humor for several hours, and quite 
inconsolable ; and, to add to his misery, the main- 
sky-sail split, some time during the middle watch, in 
a heavy south-southeast squall. At nine this morn- 
ing we wore ship, as she would not have come head 
to wind with the southerly sea that is running ; it is 
heavier than any we have had since we left the Gulf 
Stream, and we are four points off our course, head- 
ing southwest. It seems strange to me that we are 
so far to the eastward, as most of the ships spoken 
in the Herald near the line are close to the thirtieth 
meridian; perhaps the skipper expects the south- 
east Trades to be well to the southward, and, as I 
said before, he wants to avoid all risk of getting 
jammed off San Roque. If the Trades force a 

108 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

vessel over on the Brazilian coast so that she has to 
tack ship and stand away to the eastward, it often 
delays the ship for weeks ; so that it pays to always 
keep well to the eastward as long as you can. One 
hundred and ninety miles northeast of San Roque is 
the island or, more correctly, group of islands called 
Fernando de Noronha. It is the penal settlement of 
Brazil, and usually has about two thousand convicts 
employed chiefly in cultivating the soil. The surface 
of the islands is very rugged and abounds in hills 
six hundred feet high, one peak rising to an altitude 
of one thousand feet. Stores, mails, and convicts are 
carried by steamer twice a month to and from Per- 
nambuco. Vessels bound to the southward often 
make Ferdinand Noronha, as sailors always call it; 
but skippers don't like to see it, as it means that they 
are too far to the westward, the group lying in 32° 
30' west. 

We had an amusing diversion on the poop this 
afternoon, when my wife brought Nails, the cat, on 
deck for the first time since the voyage began, as it 
will be remembered how affectionate Pete was with 
it when we were lying off Staten Island. Well, this 
afternoon we thought some fresh air would do the 
cat good ; so my wife brought him up and put him 
on the opposite side of the skylight from the monk. 
By and by my wife went below, and, as she disap- 
peared down the companion-way. Bang, the dog, 
stuck his head over the break of the poop and, sur- 
mising at once that the cat was his natural enemy, 
proceeded to make things lively for it. He made a 
rush at the cat, which the latter artfully avoided by 

109 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

dodging round the companion- house ; but in doing 
so projected himself head-on into the monkey, who 
was coming at full speed around the corner to see 
what the row was about. Pete recovered himself 
first, being the heavier, and in a second had Nails 
pinned to the deck, while the dog, seeing that Nails 
was in good hands, hauled off and looked on. Then, 
for the space of one minute, the air was rent with 
piercing yells from the cat, while the two animals, 
both as quick as lightning, literally buzzed around 
the deck, clawing, biting, and spitting like a thousand 
devils. So great was the noise of combat that, in the 
thickest of the battle, those of the watch who were 
on deck stood up on the main-hatch to view the 
fight. As for the man at the wheel, his face grew 
purple with laughter that he could not suppress, and 
he fell off the grating that he was standing on, in 
spite of the skipper, who was an interested spectator 
too. At last we rescued the unhappy cat, who spent 
the rest of the day smoothing out his ruffled fur and 
temper. Latitude, 6° 40' north ; longitude, 22° 30' 
west. 

August 1 5 

More rain than ever. It comes down in apparently 
solid, slanting columns of water, and actually hisses 
as it falls into the sea. All our casks, buckets, and 
tubs are full, and the men now get no water from 
the tanks at all, using the rain-water for all purposes, 
the deck-houses, etc., having been so well washed 
off that the water is perfectly clear as it runs into 
the tubs. Yesterday afternoon the lee main-sky- 

IIO 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

sail-sheet parted, and shortly afterward the fore- and 
mizzen- sky-sails were stowed, the weather being 
squally. The rain is absolutely incessant, and I 
marvel that the proportion of salt in the ocean 
doesn't change with all the rain that falls in the 
Tropic Zone. 

My wife is busy writing letters. Why, I cannot 
imagine; perhaps she thinks there's a post-box at 
the equator. At any rate, she passes a couple of 
hours two or three times a week writing very long 
epistles to various members of her family and her most 
intimate friends, describing minutely nearly every- 
thing that has happened to us since we came to sea. 
She makes everything very rosy in her letters, and so 
indeed the voyage is to us ; but I am pretty certain 
that her friends, to say nothing of her family, would 
see it in a different light if they were here in our 
place. I think my wife feels the absence of fresh 
fruit and vegetables more than anything else; and 
while we have a great variety of tinned vegetables 
which to a certain extent take the place of fresh 
ones, there is no substitute for fresh, juicy fruit. It 
is fortunate for me that I generally live on bread and 
meat and potatoes ashore, all of which I can get 
here, except that, of course, the meat is tinned too. 
A great addition to our larder will be our first pig, 
which, of course, will not be killed till cold weather. 
While the skipper was overhauling a locker the 
other day, he came across a jar of the most delicious 
preserves I ever tasted. It is called chow-chow ; 
though it must not be supposed that, on account of 
its name, it bears any resemblance to the chow-chow 

III 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

of commerce. On the contrary, it seems to consist 
of pieces of citron and small tropical fruits, preserved 
in a very thick, sweet syrup similar to that of Canton 
ginger ; and as the chow-chow is put up in exactly 
the same sort of stone jars with wicker handles, it 
might be very readily taken for ginger until you had 
proved, by tasting, that it was very different. I have 
never seen this chow-chow in America, and I should 
think that it might be sold there at a large profit; 
particularly as I am told that it is one of the cheap- 
est articles of food in China. I shall certainly take 
home a dozen jars of it when we leave India. Lati- 
tude at noon, 6° .06' north; longitude, 20° 35' west. 

August 16 

We have a fairly good breeze from the southward, 
which commenced a little after noon. Made good 
southing previously, and in my judgment will cross 
the equator on Sunday. We expect the wind to 
back into the southeast Trades before to-morrow, as 
we ought to take them near the fifth parallel. There 
is an immense amount of phosphorescence in the 
water, and at night the ship's wake is like a path of 
fire, and every little speck of foam is transformed 
into a cluster of sparkling jewels. It is beautiful to 
watch, and I never grow tired of looking at the 
strange phenomenon caused by minute animals, and 
wondering how many billions of them would be con- 
tained in a cubic foot of water. The only water I 
have ever seen to equal this in phosphoric brilliancy 
is a lake on the island of New Providence, two miles 
from the city of Nassau, It is so extraordinarily 

112 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

luminous that when people see it for the first time 
they often refuse to believe that it is natural, but is 
due to some chemical effect produced by the owners 
of the lake as a catch-penny show. 

The sunsets are superb here, and are all the finer 
because for a week the orb of day has remained con- 
cealed behind thick clouds. I love to sit on the 
poop-rail, wedged in between the mizzen-shrouds 
and backstays, and watch the glorious colors of the 
tropical sky at evening, and build the loftiest kind of 
castles in the air. In fact, the chief amusement on 
a voyage of this kind is dreaming away the hours ; 
and, unless he who is about to begin a voyage is 
pretty well satisfied with his own company, I would 
very strongly recommend him to stay ashore. In- 
deed^ I can imagine nothing so irksome as for one 
who did not love the sea to be caged up within the 
confines of the poop. I have no doubt that fifty or 
sixty years ago, when the voyage to India was made 
in wind-jammers only, and one hundred and fifty 
first-class passengers went out in every ship, the 
people were ready to slaughter one another before 
the ship was up with the Cape. Fancy having to 
meet face to face, twenty times a day, a man that you 
detested, or with whom you had quarrelled, and also 
just think of what a grand chance for gossiping for 
the women, and how they must have hated each 
other long before they reached Bombay or Madras, 
or wherever they were going ! Even in a week's 
yachting cruise along the coast a yacht-owner will 
soon learn to ask as guests only those with whom 
he is on sufficiently intimate terms, that they can 
8 113 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

sprawl about the cabin or deck without the necessity 
of entertaining each other ; if there is any constraint, 
the true enjoyment of the grandest sport in the 
world is obliterated. How much more then must 
this be the case on a long voyage ; and if any young 
fellow that may peruse these lines is about to embark 
on a four or five months' trip to sea, let him go 
alone rather than ask his best friend to accompany 
him, unless that friend has been weighed in the 
balance and not found wanting. Before we sailed 
I was told that ere we had been at sea long my 
wife would be combing my hair with a marline-spike, 
which painful operation, it is needless to say, has not 
yet been performed, as my wife is enjoying the 
voyage quite as much as I am. 

We made considerable westing yesterday, as will 
be observed by comparing yesterday's position with 
that of to-day, which was: Latitude, 5° north; longi- 
tude, 22° 30' west. 

August 17 

This was a magnificent morning with a bright sun, 
the ship slashing along close-hauled, and the glori- 
ous southeast Trades at last whistling through the 
shrouds ; at least, we believe them to be the Trades, 
though we are not laying a better course than south- 
west. But it is likely to back into southeast true on 
the other side of the line, so that we can lay a south- 
southwest course. We have had so much hard luck 
with the winds on the voyage that we thought that a 
much longer time would elapse between the Trades 
than has actually proved to be the case. 

114 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

To-day we are just abreast of the dismal and 
pestilential west coast of Africa ; the deadly Bight 
of Benin and Gold Coast, exhaling miasma and fever 
and death to white men, lay just east of us, the 
lovely island of Lagos lying in the heart of that 
beautiful but uninhabitable land. " Beware, and take 
care of the Bight of Benin; few ever come out, 
though many go in," is an old saying the truth of 
which has been but too often proved. In describing 
the forests of equatorial Africa, Livingstone says that 
into these primeval forests the sun, though vertical, 
cannot penetrate excepting by sending down at mid- 
day thin pencils of rays into the gloom ; while the 
rain-water stands for months in stagnant pools made 
by the feet of elephants. 

I stood on the poop before breakfast, and, looking 
to the eastward, I thought of ourselves surging over 
the sparkling ocean, and then of the Europeans 
across in Sierra Leone dying of the terrible swamp- 
fever in an atmosphere so hot and humid that when 
one does not exert himself, but reclines at ease on a 
broad verandah, the perspiration exudes from every 
pore in his body, and this on a cloudy or even rainy 
day. But in spite of this the west coast has a great 
attraction for me, and I hope some day to visit it. 

This is the first day for a long while that the term 
" dancing" can be applied to the motion of the waves. 
There is a swell coming out of the southeast, and the 
strong wind, catching the tops of the seas, every now 
and then sends the crest of one slopping over the 
weather rail ; while the ship, under royals, is plung- 
ing along with her lee scuppers full and her sails like 

115 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

boards, except the weather leech of the mizzen-royal, 
which shakes for a second or two when the " Man- 
dalore" mounts to the crest of the sea, showing that 
the ship is just full and bye. It is just the sort of 
morning that Clark Russell loves to write about. 

Last night we caught a dolphin just as I had 
turned in, and the skipper called me out to see the 
beauty of the colors in the fish when dying. To be 
sure, I viewed them by lamp-light, and that may 
have been the cause of my disappointment ; for the 
colors did not for a moment compare with the ex- 
quisite tints of the fish when swimming just under 
the surface of the water. 

We witnessed a most beautiful moon-rise last even- 
ing. My wife and I were leaning over the rail when 
we saw her emerge from the edge of a great, black 
cloud, making so sublime a spectacle that no artist 
or writer could ever hope to delineate or describe. 
It was the only occasion that I ever knew when the 
word sublime could be applied to the rising moon, 
and both of us enjoyed the picture to the utmost. 
As the planet ascended, though, her pristine glory 
faded, and presently we went below to our customary- 
game of three-handed euchre. Our position at noon 
was : Latitude, 2° 54' north ; longitude, 24° 32' west. 

August 18 

At noon to-day we were less than one degree from 
the equator; we have a fine breeze and, as every- 
thing is going nicely, we ought to enter the Southern 
Hemisphere to-night. 

Pete had a grand run on deck to-day, having 
116 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

broken loose at noon and I did not catch him till 
nearly five, and then only by chance. What a 
splendid time he has when loose, galloping back and 
forth from bowsprit-end to taffrail; remarkable to 
tell, he won't go aloft higher than a dozen ratlines or 
so, but confines his gymnastic exhibitions to the 
forward and midship houses. As soon as he gets 
adrift the men drop whatever they are at work on 
and gaze in open-mouthed wonder at Pete's agility, 
which nobody appreciates more than a sailor. When 
he executed a prodigious leap to-day from the main- 
stay to the rail to avoid capture they all cheered, 
bringing the skipper on deck to see what was the 
matter. Pete had as narrow an escape, though, from 
drowning as ever happened ; he was working his way 
along through the mizzen-shrouds, and was in the 
act of springing from one rope to another when he 
in some way missed his distance and fell. Those 
who saw him fall held their breath, and I certainly 
thought that nothing could prevent his dropping out- 
board. As a matter of fact he fell on the pin-rail, 
and six inches farther would have dropped him into 
the water, from which rescue would have been im- 
possible, for we were going eight knots at the time. 
I expected to see him break an arm or a leg, for he 
fell like a sack of meal full twenty feet; but no 
sooner had he struck than away he went again, and 
in three seconds was astride of the spanker-boom. 
Pete also gives us shocks by walking round the ship's 
stern on what is called the half-round, — a narrow, con- 
vex strip of iron that rounds off the angle that would 
'otherwise be formed by the juncture of the poop- 

117 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

deck and the ship's side. I captured the monk in a 
manner as surprising to him as it was to me. Both 
mates, the steward, cook, and myself had been chas- 
ing him for a full hour (and it was as hopeless as the 
pursuit of a Jack-o'-lantern) when Pete jumped on 
the spanker-boom, for the pace had been pretty 
lively even for him. I sung out to Mr. Ryan to 
crawl up on one side of the skylight, while I stopped 
on the other side to grab him if he should come my 
way. As soon as Pete saw the mate he grasped the 
situation in a second and decided on one of his 
wonderful leaps ; so he sprang from the boom to the 
weather mizzen-royal-backstay, but as he came 
flying through the air I made a wild clutch, and to 
my utter amazement closed on his long tail, and for 
some few minutes after the air was quite blue with 
monkey cuss-words. Latitude, 52' north; longitude, 
26° 32' west. 

Sunday, August 19 

At last we are over the line! We crossed last 
night within a few minutes of ten o'clock in longi- 
tude 27° 30' west, having been just seven weeks, or 
forty-nine days, from New York, — a precious long 
time, considering that it has been done many times 
under twenty-one days, the usual time being about 
four weeks. I was in hopes that we would witness 
some of the old sea-larks so prevalent in crossing the 
line in days gone by. Those who had never entered 
the Southern Hemisphere were formally introduced 
to Neptune in the following manner : The boson is 
generally chosen to represent the sea-god, and he 

118 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

adorns his chin with a long oakum beard, paints his 
face, and then disappears over the rail forward. He 
is generally followed by a young seaman wearing a 
blanket for a skirt. Then after a few moments the 
boson and the young sailor suddenly appear, repre- 
senting Neptune and Aphrodite his wife, the former 
holding a wooden trident carved out by Chips ; Nep- 
tune then pursues the green hands about the decks, 
and after their capture all hands parade about the 
main-deck, blowing whistles and beating tin pans 
after the manner of savages before a sacrifice. One 
of the sailors, who impersonates Neptune's barber, 
carries a bucket of what is known as " deep-sea 
mystery," composed of tar and soft-soap, and an 
immense wooden razor. The victims are then blind- 
folded and seated on boards placed over tubs of sea- 
water. They are then lathered with the horrible 
mess above mentioned and shaved with the wooden 
razor ; after which the planks are pulled from under 
them and down they go into the tubs of water. This 
is called an introduction to Neptune and is produc- 
tive of a prodigious amount of hilarity ; for sailors 
are like school-boys and a practical joke affords 
them unlimited amusement. 

What has become of the old sea-customs, and 
why have most of them disappeared completely from 
sight ? And why is it that the old superstitions no 
longer hold good, that used to influence Jack's life 
in so curious a manner ? Fifty years ago the skipper 
who would sail on Friday was judged a madman, 
if, indeed, he could find a crew to sail with him ; while 
it was thought, when the corposant, otherwise known 

119 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

as Jack-o'-lantern and St. Elmo's fire, appeared on 
the yard-arms, that the ghostly lights were placed 
there by long-departed spirits. Seamen in the old 
days had an aversion to sailing with Finns, believing 
that they understood and were versed in the black 
arts, and a whole crew has more than once deserted 
a ship in which there happened to be one of the 
despised race. There is still another superstition, to 
which I have alluded before, that once prevailed 
generally throughout England and Holland, which 
related to the " Flying Dutchman" that cruised off 
the Cape ; any ship so unlucky as to fall in with her 
was never afterwards heard from. 

Those at home little suspect that we have just 
crossed the equator, thinking, no doubt, that we're 
somewhere near the Cape by this time ; and so we 
would have been if such vile luck had not attended 
us in the North Atlantic from the Gulf Stream to the 
northeast Trades. At the present time we consider 
a passage of less than one hundred and forty days 
improbable. Latitude, i° ii' south; longitude, 28° 
i' west. 

August 20 

The Trades are sending us along in splendid style, 
and, if to-day is a sample of what the next ten will 
be, September l will see us near the thirtieth parallel, 
and we should be taking the strong westerly winds 
that will blow us across the five thousand miles of 
southern ocean. In a discussion that arose at dinner 
to-day, as to the time that would probably elapse 
between now and the day on which we'll cross the 

120 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

line in the Indian Ocean, I was laughed at for saying 
that, in my judgment, we would require sixty-two 
days to cover the distance. But when I offered to 
put money up, though, the skipper and mate found 
something else to talk about. 

I forgot to say yesterday that my wife was going 
to explode a package of fire-crackers under my chair 
on the poop when we crossed the line, but she for- 
got all about it. Fire-crackers are singular things 
to find aboard ship, but the " Mandalore" came home 
from Hong-Kong last voyage with a cargo of tea, 
fire-crackers, silk, and Chinese paper fans, and several 
packages of the crackers were left aboard or else be- 
longed to the skipper. Of all cargoes, tea is said to 
be the best for fast passages and is least wearing on 
the ship ; while nitrate of soda, that is carried in im- 
mense quantities from the Chilean and Peruvian 
coasts to America and Great Britain, is by all odds 
the worst ; settling down in a solid mass in the ship's 
hold, without an atom of give to it ; indeed, wooden 
ships do not last long in the nitrate trade, however 
strongly they may be built. 

Old sea-captains say that they would rather go to 
sea in a wooden than in an iron ship, insisting that 
in bad weather the former, by reason of the material 
used in its construction, is naturally more buoyant, 
and, as wooden ships of similar tonnage are much 
more beamy than iron ones, their stability is very 
much greater. In fact, this is in a measure proved ; 
as a large number of British sailing-ships that round 
the Horn emerge from the battle with that stormy 
headland minus one or more boats and often with 

121 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the loss of their bulwarks, simply because these 
iron ships, being long and narrow, with but little 
natural buoyancy and scarcely any freeboard, will 
not rise to the seas as wooden vessels will. Ameri- 
can ships, on the other hand, built chiefly of oak, 
seldom suffer damage doubling the Horn. I re- 
member reading an interesting account of the first 
round voyage of the great Bath four-master " Shen- 
andoah," and my attention was directed to an incident 
that happened near Cape Horn, A good breeze 
was blowing at this particular time, and the " Shen- 
andoah" was making good headway bound to the 
westward, when she was overhauled and passed by 
the British ship " Kensington," the latter's crew jump- 
ing into the rigging to cheer. The Yankee skipper 
didn't say a word. The next day a heavy gale came 
on and under its impetus the mammoth clipper 
swept grandly on, overhauling and passing the Eng- 
lishman, who was hove to with bulwarks smashed 
and making very heavy weather of it, the " Shenan- 
doah" surging along as though over a summer sea. 
Subsequently, the " Kensington" had to bear up for 
the Falklands for repairs. Of course, satisfactory 
comparisons cannot be drawn from any one case; 
but still the above illustrates the buoyancy of wooden 
ships and the ease with which they ride heavy seas 
in comparison with iron ones. 

We made fairly good southing yesterday, and 
at noon our position was: Latitude, 3° 18' south; 
29° 50' west. 



122 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

August 21 

Before breakfast this morning there was but little 
wind, and heavy clouds hung over the eastern sky- 
line. By nine o'clock, though, the clouds had van- 
ished and a strong breeze was once more singing 
through the shrouds, freshening later into the freshest 
breeze we have had since we took the Trades. At 
noon we were a trifle to the southward of San 
Roque, going nine knots, steering south-southwest 
under sky-sails with the lee scuppers awash. 

Remarkable to relate, we have seen no sea- 
serpent yet, that every one who goes to sea is sup- 
posed to fall in with sooner or later. Nearly 
every one laughs at the idea of there being any 
such animal in existence; although, whenever one 
of the so-called serpents appears in Long Island 
Sound the papers are full of it for days. I my- 
self have always believed more or less that large 
serpents, or whatever they may be called, do dwell 
in the sea, and my argument is this : The largest 
terrestrial animal is the elephant ; the largest marine 
animal, the whale. What is the difference in size 
and weight ? The largest elephant will not weigh 
more than five tons, while whales attain a length of 
eighty to eighty-five feet and a weight of at least 
forty to fifty tons. If, then, the largest creature that 
dwells in the sea exceeds ten times the bulk of the 
greatest land animals, does it not seem probable and 
reasonable that there should exist marine serpents 
or gigantic eels that exceed greatly in length the 
python and boa-constrictor ? Latitude, 5 ° 54' south ; 
longitude, 29° 36' west. 

123 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

August 22 

This was a fine morning with a good, strong wind, 
and the old ship is going nobly ; indeed, from noon 
yesterday to noon to-day we logged a greater num- 
ber of miles than any day since we left the Gulf 
Stream, doing one hundred and ninety miles. And 
yet what a small run this is compared with what the 
" Mandalore" would have done had she docked in 
New York, particularly when it is remembered that 
she is one of the smartest ships in the Eastern 
trade ! 

My wife has not exhibited the least sign of sea- 
sickness since we left the Gulf Stream, which I con- 
sider remarkable ; inasmuch as six months ago she 
could not cross New York Bay without feeling the 
motion of the ferry-boat, and when yachting during 
the summer, as soon as we cleared any harbor, my wife 
would turn in and stay in her bunk until the anchor 
was let go again. It is true that during this voyage 
we have not had any bad weather since our knock 
down in the first week ; still, for ten days there has 
been a long, southerly sea running, and sometimes 
we pitch into it at a very lively rate, and I consider 
this motion a much more severe test than rolling. 
Most people will not agree with me in this, but I am 
confident that those who do not have never been in 
a really heavy head sea. Besides, I once had ocu- 
lar demonstration of it. It was during a passage 
across the North Atlantic in February, on one of the 
Cunarders. On the second day out we encountered 
a heavy beam sea that set the big steamer rolling and 
wallowing about in a startling fashion, yet three- 

124 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

fourths of the passengers showed up for luncheon. 
On the fourth day we ran into a high head sea on 
the Grand Banks, into which the steamer was forced 
at full speed, and only twenty-two people out of one 
hundred and seventy first-class passengers sat down 
to their mid-day repast. This clinched the opinion 
in my mind. 

Those whose misfortune it is to be liable to sea-sick- 
ness under moderate conditions are, in my way of 
thinking, hopeless as far as a permanent cure is con- 
cerned. For instance, I believe that although my wife 
is cured for the time being, if she stopped ashore for 
a year and then went to sea again and had faii^y bad 
weather at the start, such as one would be likely to 
meet in the Atlantic, she would have to endure the 
same suffering that she went through a few weeks ago. 
Latitude, 8° 24' south; longitude, 30° 52' west. 

August 23 

There was not a superabundance of wind this 
forenoon, but at eleven we had a severe rain-squall, 
after which it cleared up and the wind came out 
strong again, and once more we went bowling joy- 
fully along, the sea flecked with dancing white caps. 
Before breakfast a school of porpoises showed them- 
selves alongside ; and then, moving ahead, took up a 
position under the bows, where they held us fasci- 
nated by their graceful antics, as they leaped four or 
five feet clear of the water in their gambols. Surely 
they are the most elegant of all the deep-sea inhabi- 
tants; perhaps elegant is not just the word I want, 
but nothing can excel in grace and beauty the differ- 

125 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ent attitudes attained by porpoises at play. They 
lack the marvellous coloring of the so-called dolphin, 
but make up for it by their exceeding gracefulness. 

I forgot to say that we had some fried dolphin the 
other day for supper, and both my wife and I thought 
it delicious. The flesh is perfectly white and firm, 
something like the white meat of a turkey; and 
while it might not taste as well to those who live on 
pdte de foie gras and truffled pheasant, it seemed 
better to us than cod or haddock, and the cook had 
prepared it very nicely by frying steaks of it in 
bread-crumbs. 

Speaking of the cook, it reminds me that not once 
have I heard him alluded to as " the doctor," — a term 
that shore-going people always imagine is applied to 
a ship's cook. There are many other expressions 
too that landsmen think sailors use, when in fact one 
never hears them. Whenever a sailor in a novel is 
annoyed, he first hitches up his trousers, then shivers 
his timbers, and finally damns his own or his mess- 
mate's eyes. Such expressions are, of course, never 
heard at sea. 

It is astonishing how badly and slovenly men can 
dress ; I never thought that sailors rigged themselves 
out as they do until I had seen the men on the 
" Mandalore." I should think they would wear blue 
dungaree suits such as steam-yachts' crews wear; it 
seems to me that clothes of this sort would be much 
cheaper and more comfortable than the thread-bare 
undershirts and thick, unyielding woollen trousers 
that the men turn out in in hot weather, and the dun- 
garee would last much longer than the clothes sold 

126 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

from the slop-chest on board. There is another 
peculiarity about merchant sailors, though chiefly- 
confined to the officers, and that is their hatred for 
uniforms. They seem to think that when they don 
any sort of uniform whatever they are transformed 
more or less into slaves, and that their freedom is 
gone. It is a strange and unaccountable whim. For 
example, I asked the mate the other day why he 
didn't enter the navy, or, better still, try and get a 
berth on some big yacht. His answer was short and 
dry : " I wouldn't wear no uniform for all the money 
you'd gimme." Latitude at noon, io° 13' south; 
longitude, 31° 10' west. 

August 24 

This^ morning we discovered that the wind had 
backed to the eastward more, enabling us to steer a 
south by west course. There is a perceptible differ- 
ence in the temperature, especially at night, when it 
is really quite chilly. I forgot to lower a thermom- 
eter over the side at the equator to get the temper- 
ature of the sea, but I think the mercury would 
have registered between 81° and 82°. Just now we 
are abreast of Bahia, and if we are going to continue to 
eat up nearly three degrees of latitude a day another 
week will take us to 30° south. 

Pete parted his chain again this afternoon and had 
a merry, but very short dance on the main-deck. I 
caught him in five minutes by shutting the cabin- 
door after he had gone in. The wretch fixed his 
teeth in my wife's finger yesterday, proving the old 
saying that a monkey will not recognize two masters. 

127 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

We had a splendid view of the Southern-Cross last 
evening, as we are now far enough south to see it to 
advantage. My wife was much disappointed in it, as 
her imagination had led her to picture a constellation 
of stars of the first magnitude, and of the brilliancy 
of Sirius, being misled probably by poets who sing 
of the " flaming stars of the Southern-Cross." In 
reality, the constellation, while perfectly well defined, 
is not exactly a cross, the stars forming a figure like 

this • * the long diameter being canted a great 

* 
deal, though this was probably due to the hour at 

which we saw it, the Cross in its transit seeming to 
roll through the sky, as it were. Having seen the 
constellation before from the south side of Cuba, 
though dimly, I was not disappointed in its appear- 
ance ; indeed, I was very favorably impressed with 
it, and it seems to be by far the most conspicuous 
figure in the southern sky. 

Another curious phenomenon to be seen on this 
side of the line are the Magellan Clouds, three neb- 
ulae, composed apparently of an inconceivable num- 
ber of stars ; they look like detached spots of the 
Milky Way, though the star-dust seems to be much 
finer and more minute than the latter. I had always 
thought of the Magellan Clouds as vapor and similar 
to other clouds ; it never occurred to me that they 
were small nebulae or luminous spots. They are, of 
course, in the southern sky and begin to be visible 
from a point somewhat farther to the northward than 
we are now. Latitude at noon, 12° 55' south; lon- 
gitude, 32° 26' west. 

128 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

August 25 

Fresh Trades blew throughout the morning watch 
and increased in the forenoon so that we had to hand 
the sky-sails at ten. It is Captain Kingdon's inten- 
tion to make the island of Trinidad in 20° south 
for the verification of chronometers, rather than run 
the risk of missing Tristan d' Acunha, which is often 
made by vessels for the same purpose. 

The skipper appeared on deck very unexpectedly 
last night in the middle watch, and found the ship a 
point and a half off her course. He gave the helms- 
man a dressing down, and the man actually answered 
him back. What happened then I do not know, as 
Mr. Kelly had the watch from midnight to four, and 
he is always very reticent as to any little disturbances 
that o^cur. Captain Kingdon stayed on deck till 
the watch was changed and then told both the mates 
to take no " back talk" from the men whatever, but 
to answer any show of bad temper with a belaying- 
pin. The skipper has been very easy with the men, 
and I fancy that the reason is to be found in my 
wife's presence on board. A row with sailors is 
always a nasty business, and of course it would 
frighten my wife so that the rest of the voyage 
would be a sort of reign of terror for her. The 
good-hearted skipper bears that in mind, I'm sure, 
and things have gone very smoothly as far as I can 
see, though two of the men are beginning to get 
ugly, — Carson and the man with the master's ticket. 

It is remarkable how fond sailors are of skylark- 
ing and playing practical jokes on one another, but 
particularly in this case on the cook, who is made 
9 129 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the butt of most of their silly pranks. The latter is 
very skilful with his pocket-knife in whittling out 
various articles, particularly bamboo flutes ; these he 
carves out exceedingly well and then discourses 
lively tunes on them, to which the men dance with 
much gusto. I was standing at the galley-door this 
morning watching him prepare rice (which he does 
with all the skill of an East Indian), and in the course 
of the conversation he looked at me very hard and 
asked me if my name wasn't Stevenson. On my 
replying, he remarked : " I know a man by that name ; 
he keeps a fish-stand in Fulton Market; are you 
any relation to him ?" On my being obliged to con- 
fess that to the best of my belief no ties of kinship 
existed between us, he told me that his friend was 
rich and owned a sailors' boarding-house on South 
Street ! 

Every evening, in the second dog-watch, after 
everything has been coiled away and the decks wet 
down to keep them from opening under the fierce 
sun of the tropics, all the foremast hands form in 
single file, and with each man's hands on the shoul- 
ders of the one ahead of him they march in lock-step 
around the forward part of the ship, coming no far- 
ther aft than the main-hatch, between which and the 
galley they pass. The one who is leading always 
sings a sea-ditty of some sort, and at the end of 
every verse they bang away like mad on tin pans 
and nearly blow their hearts out on the cook's flutes. 
What all this means I cannot imagine, but the men 
seem to find a vast lot of amusement in it. Three or 
four of them spar very well, and last week they made 

130 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

a pair of boxing-gloves out of canvas, stuffing them 
with odd pieces of oakum and hemp. The Ameri- 
can, Carson, is by far the handiest man in the ship 
with his fists, and can do up some of the others with 
one hand secured behind his back. The only man 
who takes no part in the fun is the musical genius 
with the license ; he always selects the opposite side 
of the deck from the rest of them, and paces moodily 
up and down as though hatching out some nefarious 
scheme. 

I saw a good illustration once of how utterly irre- 
sistible is the impulse of mischief-doing among most 
sailors. I was making the round voyage through 
the West Indies on a steamer three or four years 
ago, and we had reached Cienfuegos, on the south 
coast of Cuba, where we were to lie three or four 
days. We hauled into the wharf on the second day 
to load sugar, which the big,, black stevedores rolled 
into the hold in immense hogsheads. The second 
mate, a young, dare-devil Nova Scotian, had been 
given shore leave, and at ten o'clock I saw him, 
rigged out in his finest, sauntering up the long, 
wooden pier. Presently his eye caught a fruit-ven- 
dor's cart lying by the roadside, and the temptation 
was too strong. The cart was a two-wheeled affair 
with a stick supporting one end so that it should re- 
main level. As the second mate went by he kicked 
the prop away, and down came the stand, scattering 
oranges, bananas, and pineapples in the black, sticky 
mud. I have never seen any one in so great a rage 
as that Cuban ; for a full minute he couldn't say or 
do anything at all ; then, ripping out the inevitable 

131 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

knife, he darted after the unsuspecting joker. The 
latter heard him just in time, and the last I saw of 
them they were sailing up the wharf at full speed, 
the enraged fruit-seller grabbing frantically at the 
other's horizontal coat-tails. When the second mate 
came back that afternoon, I told him I saw the whole 
affair, and he showed me a long scratch on his elbow 
from the Cuban's knife ; so that he really did have a 
pretty close call. After seeing this little escapade, I 
readily understood why so many sailors get shore 
leave and never return to the ship : they can't all 
run as fast as this one. Latitude, 15° 35' south; 
longitude, 32° 56' west. 

Sunday, August 26 

Eight weeks at sea to-day, and eight delightful 
weeks they have been ; I only hope that the next 
two months will be as agreeable. But that is hardly 
to be expected, for, when we take the westerly winds, 
good-by to fine weather. Then ho ! for tall seas, 
heavy gales, and flooded decks. Then it's a case of 
oil-skins day and night for the men, though they 
arn't much good with two feet of water on the 
main-deck. When we are going to take these winds 
it is, of course, extremely indefinite. The Trades 
are light, and we are not doing more than four knots 
an hour ; but, then, the wind is a point free, which 
makes up for it. Last night it shifted and blew from 
northeast for a while, and the ship's head was put 
southeast by east three-quarters east by steering- 
compass, or southeast one-half south true, so as to 
fetch Trinidad. At noon that island lay two hundred 

132 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

and twenty miles nearly southeast of us, and if ca- 
pricious Eurus doesn't alter his intentions we ought 
to pass it some time within the ensuing thirty-six 
hours. On the other hand, if the wind cants even 
two points more to the southward we shan't fetch the 
island at all, and the skipper won't waste any time 
looking for it. There is one spot of land that I 
should like to see, and that is Tristan d'Acunha. 
There is no gorgeous scenery there, nothing but a 
great mountain-peak and some water-falls ; but I 
should like to say that I had seen this, one of the 
most isolated points on the globe. I don't really 
believe that we will sight any land, though, till we 
make the low-lying coast at the mouth of the 
Hoogly, called the Sunderbunds. 

I hg.ve had some wonderful yarns from the old 
second mate during the first watch every other night. 
He tells them in an off-hand way and jerks his words 
and sentences out in a startling and curious man- 
ner. He spun one very lurid yarn about a gale of 
wind he was in in the " M. P. Grace," when she was 
hove to under bare poles inside the Falklands. This 
lying to under bare poles is hard for those who 
have never been to sea to believe, as those who 
know little about square-riggers always believe that 
they heave to under a lower maintop-sail and miz- 
zen-storm-stay-sail. And so they generally do. 
What is to be done if the wind is too strong for a 
rag to be set to heave to under ? The only thing 
possible under those conditions is to heave her to 
under bare poles, and Captain Kingdon thinks this 
is the best thing to do anyway, and for three reasons : 

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A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Firstly, the vessel drifting broadside or nearly so to 
leeward carries a wonderfully smooth wake to wind- 
ward, preventing the seas from breaking aboard that 
can do much damage. Secondly, not having any 
canvas set, there is nothing to blow away and lose. 
Thirdly, when hove to under canvas the ship is con- 
tinually running up into the wind and then falling 
off again, meeting the seas and suffering thereby 
more damage than if always drifting away from 
them. There are plenty of men who laugh at the 
idea of lying to under bare poles simply because 
they've never been forced to do it ; those who have 
been compelled to furl everything, or whose canvas 
has been blown away, acknowledge that they were 
better off without it. 

Then there is another mistake that the uninitiated 
make in supposing that when a square-rigger is hove 
to she rides continually head to wind (nearly) with 
the sea on the bow. This is a mistake, for she is 
constantly coming up and then falling off, with the 
wind and sea often two or three points abaft the 
beam, running up to within about five points of the 
wind ; so that a ship hove to generally has the wind 
and sea nearly abeam. 

I can work the most difficult Sumner in Ainsley 
now without the least difficulty, — an accomplishment 
of which I am quite vain, as Ainsley had a genius 
for elaborating the most intricate problems, particu- 
larly in Greenwich Date and rating the chronometer 
which he introduces in all his time sights, laying inno- 
cent-looking but deadly pitfalls for the embryo navi- 
gator. I am almost through the book, but the mate 

134 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

is going to make me go over it twice more if we 
have time, and every day until we reach port I will 
have to do a complicated day's work. Latitude at 
noon, 17° 41' south; longitude, 32° 20' west. 

August 27 

We were treated to a calm last night by way of 
variety. The wind was so light from the eastward 
yesterday that every one expected a calm spell, 
though this is pretty far north to fall in with one. 
So we lay rolling about in a light swell all last night 
and up to nine this morning, when we had a shift to 
southwest with a squally look to windward. The 
watch had just rigged the machine for scraping the 
bilges, but as the wind freshened it was impossible 
to use it; so operations were suspended and the 
yards swung, putting us on the starboard tack for 
the first time in a long while. I must say that the 
southeast Trades haven't used us as well as they 
might, for they have seemingly left us away up here 
in 18° south instead of carrying us ten degrees 
farther. We took them in about 4° north ; so that 
they have wafted us through twenty-two degrees of 
latitude, though at no time were they what could 
have been called strong ; it was a lady's breeze all the 
time. And now we fear they have left us, our only 
hope lying in the fact that the southwest wind is 
beginning to freshen, and the horizon in that direc- 
tion has a breezy look. 

After dinner the wind grew quite cold, little Pete 
feeling the change very quickly, and hereafter I will 
have to keep him below except between ten and 

135 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

four. He has broken loose three times in the last 
two days, appearing very suddenly as I was reading 
in the cabin after dinner. The chain I brought for 
him is wearing out, and I shall have to make him fast 
with marlin or something of that sort. 

We did not make much yesterday, at noon being 
in latitude i8° 30' south; longitude, 32° west. 

August 28 

A dark, cloudy day with a fresh breeze from south 
by east were the meteorological conditions that 
greeted us this morning. Just before dark yester- 
day the wind became very puffy, and under the strain 
the standing part of the foretop-gallant-halliards 
parted ; and all the weight of the heavy yard coming 
on the lifts, the lee one went a second after the hal- 
liards, and here was a hurrah's nest. Carson was 
sent aloft to clear the wreck, and such swearing I 
never heard as he indulged in. Every few minutes 
he would get into a passion and rage and tear around 
up aloft at a terrible rate. He is certainly a most 
undesirable person to have on board, even if he is 
the smartest seaman in the ship. 

The halliards must have had a flaw in one of the 
links (they are made of heavy chain), as they never 
would have parted otherwise. How curious that 
they should have carried away here, and not in the 
Gulf Stream in that heavy squall ! 

During the morning watch to-day the puffs came 
so strong that the royals were stowed, and at nine a 
certain rent in the lee side of the mizzentop-gallant 
was seen to be rapidly enlarging, and to save the sail 

136 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

it was stowed at 9.30, leaving us under pretty snug 
canvas. Sail was further reduced in the afternoon 
watch by the hauling up of the cross-jack, necessi- 
tated by the ripping of one of the seams in the after- 
leech. How naked the yards and spars looked in 
comparison with their appearance when crowned with 
the light, upper sails! I wonder how they'll look 
when we're under lower top-sails off the Cape. And 
this reminds me that my wife is beginning to express 
fear of the Southern Ocean and the doubling of the 
Capo del Bona Spes, as the early navigators called 
it. Unfortunately, I told my wife the other day that 
Admiral Fitzroy mentions a gale he was in off Good 
Hope, during which he estimated the height of the 
tallest seas, from crest to trough, at seventy feet, and 
this has so alarmed her that she looks with dread and 
apprehension towards the next month. I somewhat 
smoothed it over by afterwards assuring my wife that 
it was on the Agulhas Bank that Fitzroy encountered 
these tremendous seas. 

I believe it is the general impression that the Cape 
of Good Hope is at the southernmost extremity of 
the African continent, but Cape Agulhas extends 
thirty miles farther south and really terminates that 
dark, vast country. 

Quite a sea made during the day, and the motion 
is more severe than for many weeks. The worst of 
these southerly winds is that they are surprisingly 
raw and biting, though we are yet north of 20° 
south; I suppose that away down in 42° south the 
winds have the true antarctic sting. 

Poor Old John, as we call him, the oldest man in 
137 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the ship before the mast, is pitifully weak, and going 
aloft is out of the question for him ; he tried yester- 
day and couldn't haul himself above the sheer pole. 
The skipper is very kind to him and gives him 
various draughts and compounds calculated to im- 
prove his condition, but apparently they are without 
effect. 

Old Kelly, the second mate, and the ugliest man 
I ever saw, is very anxious to have his photograph 
taken with the kodak ; perhaps I will before we get in. 
We are away off our course, heading east-southeast, 
and making good east by south. If this keeps up, 
we'll wear ship in the morning. We had no sights 
at all to-day, and by dead-reckoning made only four 
miles of southing, though a degree and a half of 
easting. Latitude at noon, i8° 34' south; longitude, 
30° 30' west 

August 29 

Wore ship this morning at six and stood over on 
the port tack, steering southwest by south. We are 
going very slowly ; indeed, we are making barely 
four knots, although there is a fresh breeze blowing 
and we ought to be doing eight. Yesterday after- 
noon at five, sighted a large bark bound north, under 
royals ; she has a fine chance, and ought to be up 
with the line in five days. 

The weather is cold enough now for light flannels, 
as the wind has quite a sharp edge, particularly when 
it comes roaring out of the after-leech of one of the 
courses ; although if you curl yourself up under the 
lee of the companion-house, there is plenty of heat 

138 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

left yet in the sun. We are all intensely interested 
calculating whether we will see Trinidad to-morrow 
or not ; we are very close to it, and my only fear is 
in passing it after dark. Latitude, i8° 25' south; 
longitude, 28° 40' west. 

August 30 

Shortly after daybreak this morning Mr. Ryan put 
his face close to our forward port and yelled, " Land 
ahead !" with the noise of a steam-calliope ; it was 
very alarming, and I started up with such a rush that 
I brought up with my head against the deck-beams, 
not with a dull thud, but with a splitting crack ; so 
that I fell back, consigning the mate, as well as Trin- 
idad, to everlasting punishment. 

I did not turn out till just before breakfast; and 
then, on looking out over the bows, a bluish cloud on 
the horizon showed me that land was in sight. After 
we had finished our matutinal repast, Trinidad showed 
up much more plainly, but still not well enough de- 
fined to show anything but its rough and broken 
outline ; and it was not until eleven o'clock, when we 
had approached to within ten miles or so, that we 
saw or appreciated the rugged beauty of this solitary 
monolith. Nothing that I ever saw could so com- 
pletely embody the picture of profound solitude and 
desolate barrenness as the sharp, jagged peaks ; the 
high, vertical cliffs of rock, and the almost total 
absence of any particle of green that would relieve 
the eye. But there is nothing to break its gray 
monotony; and as one gazes spellbound at the 
grandeur of the lonely, volcanic rock, the thought 

139 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

occurs, " How dreadful to be cast away on this dreary 
place, with a few wild goats and sea-birds for your 
only companions !" 

Looking upward towards the highest point of the 
land, one sees, on approaching the westerly side of 
Trinidad, a sort of undulating plateau, divided by 
deep ravines and almost completely surrounded by 
jutting, ragged masses of rock, having the appear- 
ance of elaborately carved church-steeples. It is 
here that the scenery rises into sublimity, and one is 
lost in admiration as he contemplates this gigantic 
pile and marvels at the mighty forces that upheaved 
the mass from the depths of the sea. A very curi- 
ous formation is to be noticed when approaching 
from the northward and westward ; it is an isolated, 
symmetrical column of basalt about one thousand 
feet high, and looks exactly as though the Titans 
had been at work there in by-gone ages. I do not 
know when anything has impressed me as has this 
island of Trinidad, a dot in the mighty South At- 
lantic. It was so much more solemn and grand 
than I expected that I was the more affected by it. 

When we came abreast of the land we saw large 
numbers of gannets skimming along just above 
the surface of the water; they are white and about 
the size of ducks; while numbers of great frigate- 
birds sailed in stately circles over our mast-heads. 
Altogether, it was a morning that I will not soon 
forget; and though some of the islands in the 
Southern Ocean — Tristan d'Acunha, for example — 
may be loftier than Trinidad, I have many doubts 
whether they can compare with it in fascinating 

140 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

beauty and rugged grandeur. Inasmuch as we 
passed to leeward of the island, and not more than 
seven miles off, we lost nearly all the wind by reason 
of the height of the land, the loftiest pinnacle tower- 
ing two thousand and twenty feet above the sea. 
During the afternoon both wind and sea went down, 
and in the first dog-watch we were going smoothly 
and quietly along. At noon, being then immediately 
abreast of Trinidad, our position was : Latitude, 20° 
31' south; longitude, 29° 19' west. 

August 31 

We had very light winds this morning, and before 
breakfast the scraping gear was rigged, the main- 
top-sail having been laid to the mast. The affair is 
such a fussy thing that it puts every one in a bad 
humor who has anything to do with it. The skip- 
per and the mate had a few words over it shortly 
after breakfast, and again after dinner, when Mr. 
Ryan averred that no one could teach him much 
about his duties as mate, the skipper having re- 
course to the crushing inquiry as to who was in 
command of the ship. If coming events cast their 
shadows before, we may soon be treated to an ex- 
hibition of the power vested in the commander of a 
ship, as Captain Kingdon didn't fancy the mate's 
manner in the least. 

Speaking about the power of a skipper, I had an 
argument with a man not long ago, as to the relative 
powers of a naval and merchant captain. My oppo- 
nent in the argument was an Englishman, who up-, 
held the theory that the captain of a vessel in thq 

141 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

royal navy was the most powerful man afloat, for 
he could give a man under him sixty days in a cell. 
This is, no doubt, very severe, but it is more than 
equalled by the merchant skipper, who can put a 
man in solitary confinement for the whole voyage if 
he likes ; it matters not his rank, whether he be chief 
mate or 'prentice. And how about the severe punish- 
ments meted out on some vessels to refractory sea- 
men on the west coasts of North and South America ? 
Frequently, on the arrival of a ship from either of 
these localities, we see in the newspapers harrowing 
accounts of men strung up by the wrists and flogged, 
and other equally severe punishments. Such actions 
are, of course, not countenanced by the law, and yet 
the skipper and mates often get off with a light fine. 

We saw more frigate-birds to-day, and I never 
weary of watching them as they sail about in wide 
circles, their long, forked tails alternately opening and 
shutting, and with never the slightest movement of 
wing, as though those appendages were fixed and 
immovable. Their buoyancy must be very great. 
English sailors are said to have given them the name 
of frigate-birds on account of their rapid flight when 
pursuing their prey, and the fearlessness they exhibit 
in attacking much larger birds. Although they 
generally fly very high, often looking like dots in the 
sky, they fly low, so it is said, just before a gale of 
wind. Boobies are the frigate-bird's greatest prey, 
swooping down with incredible speed when the un- 
fortunate booby has succeeded in catching a fish, and 
compelling it to relinquish it. 

I think the temperature was a little higher to-day, 
142 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

which was very welcome. Latitude, 21° 46' south; 
longitude, 29° 40' west. 

September 1 

We have made but little southing in the past 
twenty-four hours, for the wind has been very light ; ' 
we looked up to within two points of our course, 
though, most of the time steering about south. It is 
really singular that we have not more wind; and 
when we do manage to run across something more 
than a gentle breeze, it is quite certain to come out 
ahead. Equally strange is the fact that we sight no 
vessels ; we ought to see two or three every day, for 
we are in the great highway for vessels bound not 
only to the east, but round the Horn as well. Perhaps 
they run in shoals, as they do when they arrive at 
New York. Frequently I have known a week to 
pass by without the arrival of a single long-voyage 
ship ; then seven or eight will come in in forty-eight 
hours, to be followed by another week's cessation ; 
and it may be the same here. 

A very long though not a heavy swell is rolling 
up out of the south, as it nearly always does this far 
to the southward. Indeed, it is often felt at the 
equator, showing how heavy the wind and how im- 
mense the seas must be in the Southern Ocean to 
drive the swell through forty or forty-five degrees of 
latitude, — fully two thousand five hundred miles. 
Latitude, 23° south ; longitude, 30° west. 

Sunday, September 2 

A raw wind from the southward made the day 
disagreeable on deck. We have been nine weeks at 

143 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

sea to-day, and ought to be on the other side of the 
Cape ; but fifty degrees of longitude have to be cut 
first, to say nothing of more than ten degrees of 
latitude. 

To-day we saw for the first time half a dozen Cape 
pigeons ; jolly little birds, about twice the size of our 
domestic pigeons, and very plump and sleek-looking. 
I understand, though, that there is scarcely any meat 
on them, their fat appearance being due to an im- 
mense amount of feathers and down, with which 
their bodies are protected. These birds are seen in 
great numbers all over the Southern Ocean from 
South America to Australia, and belong, I believe, to 
the great petrel family, whose representatives vary in 
size from the tiny stormy petrel to the giant, wander- 
ing albatross. A great many varieties of petrels are 
met with in this part of the world, including what 
sailors call the " stink-pot," from the strong odor of 
musk that they emit. I cannot elicit further informa- 
tion about the afflicted bird from any one on board ; so 
that my description of him must end with his oppro- 
brious title. 

The Cape pigeon, as I said before, is a happy, 
joyful little fellow, eternally on the lookout for bits 
of food ; on account of which he is provided with 
the most remarkably acute sight, and he will see and 
instantly devour the smallest particles of slush or fat 
that may be thrown overboard, no matter how fast 
he may be skimming along. We tried to catch one 
with a very small hook temptingly baited and towed 
over the stern, but they were all too wary, and after 
an hour's unsuccessful fishing we gave it up as a 

144 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

bad job. Besides, as they are said to vomit up the 
contents of the stomach on being hauled on board, 
perhaps it was just as well that success did not 
crown our efforts. It is very amusing to see them 
squabble over bits of fat, hustling one another out 
of the way, and behaving just as a crowd of street- 
urchins do ashore if a penny is thrown to them. 
When a large quantity of fat or slush is hove over- 
board, the pigeons will settle down on the water, and 
will not rise till every vestige of the fat has disap- 
peared ; and when they have finished they make a 
curious, pattering noise by striking the water with 
their broad, webbed feet, gaining an impetus sufficient 
to raise them from the water. For this reason they 
cannot fly away if placed on deck, unless they are 
at the break of the poop, when they will fall off and 
then catch themselves before striking the main-deck. 
The derivation of the word "petrel" is odd and it 
sounds very silly, but I am told it is true : it comes 
from the belief or supposition that some of the family 
have the power of walking on the water, and they 
are called petrels after St. Peter, who essayed to 
perform the same feat. Latitude at noon, 24° 47' 
south ; longitude, 30° 30' west. 

September 3 

Last night the wind shifted to east-northeast, as it 
ought to in this locality, and at the present moment 
we are slipping along at eight knots, the course 
having been altered to south-southeast. This is only 
the second or third time since the voyage began that 
we have gone so fast. Cape pigeons to the number 
10 145 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

of a score or more are following us, and if one were 
fond of shooting an excellent opportunity is thus 
offered, though the killing of such happy little 
creatures would seem to me the height of cruelty. 

The weather to-day is fine and bracing and my wife 
feels the exhilaration of the keen air, though she has 
been in splendid health since the fifth day out. In the 
afternoon we asked the skipper to hoist out our trunks, 
so that we could get at our heavy clothes. So 
the mate and a couple of seamen lifted off the mizzen- 
hatch covers and soon had our trunks on deck, they 
having been stowed on top of some spare sails, which 
in turn rested on the upper tier of oil-cases. One of 
my trunks is of sole-leather and was the admiration 
of the men, one of whom exclaimed, " I'll bet you 
didn't get that for five dollars." 

I had provided myself with heavy, woollen under- 
clothes and knitted socks so thick as to be almost in- 
flexible ; and though I had demurred in buying them, 
Captain Kingdon advised me to get the heaviest of 
everything, adding, " Unless you want to spend the 
whole of every cold day below. Just wait till you feel 
the southerly wind at the fortieth parallel !" There- 
fore, I went to Howard Place's, on South Street, and 
bought an outfit of the thickest clothes I could find ; 
but I never will bring white-canvas suits to sea any 
more. I have them washed once a week, but the 
steward hates to do it, and I regret every day that I 
didn't bring brown canvas or holland instead. The 
skipper has changed his suit of pongee silk to a 
double-breasted frock-coat and trousers of some 
thick stuff and his pith helmet for a soft-felt hat. 

146 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Another sign of the approach of cold weather was 
that this morning the awning was unbent and stowed 
under the mizzen-hatch with the spare canvas, and 
we've seen the last of it for five or six weeks. Both 
mates are overhauling the running and standing gear 
and in other ways making ready for the southwest 
gales, while the men are busy battening down the 
hatches and tightening the ports in the forward and 
midship houses. In old days the sky-sail and royal- 
yards were generally struck for doubling the Horn, 
and, indeed, the top-gallant-yards were often sent 
down and secured on deck. But these precautions 
are seldom observed nowadays, steel masts and 
standing gear having rendered the practice obsolete, 
except in the case of whalers, who still adhere to the 
practice of sending down their upper spars when 
bound to the westward around Cape Horn. We made 
quite a good run yesterday, and at noon to-day our 
position was : Latitude, 26° 32' south ; longitude, 
29° 30' west. 

September 4 

Another grand morning with the wind at north- 
east, having backed two points since yesterday, and 
at nine o'clock I think we were going fully that num- 
ber of knots. It is glorious, and the ship with the 
wind a little abaft the beam, under all possible can-, 
vas, and a cascade of foam under her forefoot like a 
steamer's cut-water, is a sight to quicken the blood 
in one's veins and send one skipping along the decks 
for very joy. We are heeled over till it is necessary 
to rest the lee side of the soup-plate on one of the 

147 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

racks on the table; but were it not for this, there 
is nothing to indicate that we are under way, for 
there is no motion at all from the sea, and, thank the 
gods, no grinding of machinery. The spanker was 
set to-day for almost the first time, though why it has 
not been set all the time I cannot understand. 

Chips has started work on a new foretop-gallant- 
yard ; the old one is nearly gone and would certainly 
carry away when we get into the bad weather. It is 
very interesting to watch him working at the big spar 
that has hitherto been lashed under the starboard 
rail. First he makes profound calculations and 
covers the big log with strange hieroglyphics in chalk, 
but as I am ignorant of the rudiments of carpentry 
I haven't the least idea what so many mysterious 
figures mean. When he had passed the whole of 
this morning in figuring, the adze was brought into 
use and the spar soon began to assume the appear- 
ance of a ship's yard; though two or three days' 
work will be needed before it is crossed. My wife is 
also much interested in the metamorphosis of the spar; 
and as the carpenter is much gratified at the interest 
we take in his work, and is very affable, we often pass 
away hours sitting on an empty oil-case, watching 
the skill with which he manipulates chisel and gouge. 

Captain Kingdon last evening told me the story of 
what he considers his narrowest escape in all his 
forty-two years' experience at sea. The incident, 
which was so nearly an appalling accident, happened 
about six years ago, when the " Mandalore" was on 
a voyage from Cardiff to San Francisco with coal. 
It was on the night of the i6th of April, 1888, that 

148 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the " Mandalore" was fighting her way round Cape 
Horn in the face of a heavy southwesterly gale. It 
was snowing hard and a tremendous sea was running, 
— one of the worst that the skipper ever remem- 
bers. The passage had been a slow one, and Cap- 
tain Kingdon was trying to beat up against the gale 
instead of lying-to, as he otherwise would have done. 
The night was so bad that the skipper himself stood 
the first watch with the second mate, all hands being 
ordered to keep a good lookout. Everything was 
going as nicely as possible under the circumstances, 
when suddenly there was an awful shout from the 
watch, " Ship on the weather beam ; my God, she's 
into us !" At the same instant the skipper saw her 
and ordered the helmsman to put the wheel up for 
his lifej and the next instant a giant four-masted 
ship rushed by so close that during an instant's lull 
the skipper heard the officer of the watch on the 
other vessel sing out, " Why the hell don't you keep 
your lights burning?" This was a bluff; for the 
" Mandalore's" lights were not only shining as 
brightly as the furious snow-squalls would allow, 
but they were and are nearly three times as power- 
ful as Lloyd calls for. When the ship had passed 
(for she was bound to the eastward and swept by like 
a ghost) Captain Kingdon says his legs actually gave 
way beneath him, and it was many an hour before 
his hand stopped shaking and he was himself again. 
He thinks the other ship did not clear him by more 
than twenty yards. A collision would have meant 
death to all the men on both vessels; and what a 
spectacle it would have been as the two big iron 

149 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ships came together on that night in the worst month 
in the year, sixty miles off the Diego Ramirez, in a 
Cape Horn gale and sea ! The incident reminds me 
of the narrative of the " Wreck of the * Golden 
Mary,' " by Dickens. I can't imagine where he got 
his knowledge from, for the story is told in quite a 
seaman-like manner. Latitude, 29° 3' south ; longi- 
tude, 26° 10' west. 

September 5 

No fault could be found with the weather this 
morning, for when I went on deck a glorious wind 
was blowing out of the north, and the ship was 
doing better than nine knots ; indeed, we averaged 
nine and a half for the twenty-four hours, the distance 
run being two hundred and twenty-four miles, — as 
good as we have made since we left New York. 

There came near being another row last night, the 
helmsman steering a very bad course. I heard the 
other day that it is hard to maintain good discipline 
on a ship bound to Calcutta, owing to a parson who 
comes aboard when the vessel reaches the moorings 
in the river, and asks each man individually whether 
he has any grievance against the master or mates ; 
in fact, in Calcutta Jack's word is as good as the 
skipper's. This, of course, is known by the foremast 
hands all over the world, and gives them great as- 
surance of manner, so that they will behave on a 
Calcutta-bound ship as they would on no other. 
Captain Kingdon, of course, knows the port as well as 
the men, and I think there would be some fighting 
in spite of the parson, if my wife were not aboard. 

150 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Neither of the mates has ever been to Calcutta, 
but the boson spins such yarns about a seaman's 
rights in that port that they seem to hesitate about 
speaking sharply to them, as that generally leads to 
back-talk, and then blows ; and the old second mate 
seems to have a horrible dread of an Indian jail. 
The boson has also told him that the natives of India 
are nothing less than a gigantic band of cutthroats, 
and that it is as much as a man's life is worth to go 
ashore there. To my surprise old Kelly takes it all 
in and swears he won't set foot on Indian soil as long 
as the ship is in port. The boson, cook, and two of 
the seamen, besides the skipper, are the only ones on 
board who have ever been to Calcutta. 

The musician with the license is, I believe, to be 
disratQ^d when we reach port ; he signed as able sea- 
man, the definition of which is that he must be able 
to reef, hand, and steer. He can do the first two all 
right, but he can scarcely steer at all; for he's so 
near-sighted that he must leave the wheel and shove 
his head into the compass-bowl to see the card, and 
even then he is often a point off his course. As a 
lookout he's positively useless, for he couldn't see 
a vessel's lights till she was aboard of us. I don't 
know what the law is concerning disrated seamen, 
but I fancy they don't get much of the pay due them 
when they reach port. Latitude, 30° south ; longi- 
tude, 23° west. 

September 6 

To-day was raw and cold on deck ; indeed, below 
it was not what could be called torrid. The old fore- 

151 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

top-gallant-yard was sent down this forenoon, and in 
the afternoon the new one was crossed in its place. 
The second mate — a splendid seaman, if nothing else 
— had the handling of the job, and, considering that 
he had only seven men to help him, he sent the new 
spar up very neatly and quickly, Carson being sta- 
tioned aloft to superintend matters up there. When 
they were lowering away the old yard, it was so 
rotten that several times I thought it would break in 
two and hurt some one. At the slings it was so 
decayed that I picked the wood to pieces with my 
fingers. What held it together aloft is more than I 
can see, for it seemed to me that a man's weight on 
the foot-ropes ought to have broken it. The new 
spar is a little larger than the old one, but it is very 
full of sap, and will be a good bit smaller when it 
dries out. 

This forenoon the mate put his head into the com- 
panion-way and sung out, " Come up and see the 
first albatross." So my wife and I ran up as quickly 
as possible, and there, sure enough, was a large, 
grayish-black bird, sailing in wide circles over the 
sea, two or three hundred yards away. I was a little 
disappointed, though, in his appearance ; and when 
the skipper, who had been examining the new yard, 
came aft, he asked us what we were looking at. I 
told him that we were looking at an albatross. 
" Where is he ?" he asked. " Right there, dead astern 
of us," I answered. Then he asked us who said that 
that was an albatross ; on my replying that the mate 
had said so, he called him over and said, " Mr. Ryan, 
haven't you ever been around the Cape ?" " Yes, 

152 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

sir," said the mate ; " I went out to Saigon in the 
'Tamar E. Marshall' two years ago with a cargo 
of oil," "And you call that bird an albatross? 
Well, it isn't ; it's a guny." And when the second 
mate came on deck he clinched the matter by re- 
marking, " That ain't no albatross ; it's a guny." I 
was very glad that this was so ; for if it had been 
an albatross my estimation of that bird would have 
been rudely cut down. As a matter of fact, the 
guny (I suppose that's the way to spell it) is a very 
fine creature, but not half as large as the albatross, 
nor so majestic-looking. 

My wife is getting along nicely in navigation, and 
has mastered the intricacies of a chronometer sight, 
and can work up the ship's position by dead-reckon- 
ing. But, like all women, she has trouble with the 
sextant, finding it difficult to bring the sun down 
accurately to the horizon. It seems strange that 
this should be a stumbling-block for all women 
navigators. 

Our course has been gradually altered, and is now 
about southeast, as may be seen by comparing our 
position to-day with that of yesterday, which shows 
that we made about as much departure as difference 
of latitude. Latitude, 33° 15' south; longitude, 
19° 38' west. 

September 7 

There is still a strong northerly wind blowing 
over our quarter, and our course is now east-south- 
east true. As yet there has been no evidence of 
the big seas that Fitzroy and other navigators tell 

153 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

us about in this locality, though we are not far 
enough south yet. Not only that, but we are still 
seventeen hundred miles to the westward of Cape 
Agulhas, though in the same latitude, and we have 
five thousand miles of easting to run down before 
turning the ship's head to the equator. So we have 
a month yet in which to see some of those famous 
waves. Fitzroy mentions seas on the Agulhas Bank 
that he estimated were seventy feet from crest to 
trough. This great height is not generally believed, 
and is particularly disbelieved by sailors that I have 
talked with ; but I must add that those men, when 
questioned closely, admitted in every case that they 
had never tried to estimate the height of waves in a 
gale, saying that they had as much as they could do 
to take care of the ship. This is very likely true, 
but it is no reason for a sweeping denial by all of 
them of Fitzroy's estimate, particularly when he, by 
long observation and residence in the Southern 
Ocean, one might say, was peculiarly well adapted 
for expressing an opinion on the subject. I came 
across a copy of a little paper on board not long 
ago, called the Fisherman, of Gloucester, Massa- 
chusetts, and in it was an article on the height of 
waves, the author of which employed a unique 
method — and it seems to me a very accurate one 
• — of obtaining correct measurements of waves ; and, 
as the subject is of almost universal interest, I am 
going to set down what he wrote to the Liverpool 
Mercury^ a great shipping journal, in response to 
that paper's editorial asking merchant skippers to 
obtain accurate measurements, if possible, of the 

154 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

waves running off Cape Horn in a gale. Mr. T. 
A. H. Oxhall, who wrote the following letter, be- 
longed to the bark " Lurlie," on the Chilean coast, 
when he read the Mercury's editorial, and he deter- 
mined to try and prove the height of waves himself. 
I will copy verbatim from his report : " On the 8th 
of May last, in latitude 50° south, longitude 79° 
west, when running before a heavy nor'west gale, I 
went up into the main-rigging to get, if possible, the 
top of the wave coming up astern, in a line of sight 
from the mast to the horizon at the back. The rea- 
son I selected the main-mast was this : That, as a 
rule, it is nearly amidships, and when the ship is 
running the sea ahead and from aft lifts the two 
ends, forming a hollow amidships (the actual foot of 
the wave) below the mean draught, equal to the 
slight elevation ; the observer is necessarily above the 
true height. I found this to be a far more difficult 
task than I had imagined, as I had not only to watch 
the top of the wave, but also the perpendicular of the 
mast. In fact, it required the agility of a monkey 
and the eye of a hawk to catch the golden moment, 
which lasted only a couple of seconds. However, 
after many failures I succeeded in getting some very 
good observations, leaving a mark in the mast for 
each. On measuring the distance from these to the 
mean draught, I found them to be as follows : fifty- 
eight, sixty, sixty-three, and sixty-four feet respec- 
tively, varying in length from seven hundred and fifty 
to eight hundred feet. These waves seldom broke ; 
but there were others independent of the former, 
rising suddenly without any warning to the height 

155 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

of from twelve to fifteen feet, playing havoc with 
what we sailors call the gingerbread-work, leaving 
the more solid parts to be dissected by the booming 
artillery coming up behind." The writer continues 
at greater length, but I have copied all that has any 
bearing on the question of the altitude of the largest 
waves ; and it would seem from the above that Fitz- 
roy is not far wrong in his estimate of the height of 
seas, if, indeed, he is wrong at all. Latitude, 34° 
57' south; longitude, 15° 58' west. 

September 8 

The glorious north wind is still driving us on at 
an average of ten knots. The weather is dark and 
disagreeable, a drizzling rain adding much to the 
discomfort of the day ; and a more desolate spectacle 
it would be hard to find than that which greeted me 
when I put my head out of the companion-way be- 
fore breakfast this morning, Eveiything was gray : 
the sea, the sky, the very air seemed to be of the 
same sombre hue ; while a heavy westerly swell had 
come rolling up, the great seas rushing under our 
counter with such force as to nearly take the wheel 
out of the helmsman's hands, for we are still under 
royals, which makes the steering hard. A little way 
astern hovered a flock of Cape pigeons, fighting over 
bits of refuse thrown overboard from the galley; 
while at a distance of a quarter of a mile two great 
albatrosses — real ones this time — were sweeping 
through the air in magnificent circles, giving one the 
idea of absolute freedom and boundless space in 
which to exercise it. 

156 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Sweeping is, I think, the best word to describe the 
flight of these splendid birds. It has been the desire 
of my life to see this, the largest and most powerful 
of web-footed birds, in his native haunts ; and what 
with tradition and the realization of my long-deferred 
wish, it almost takes my breath away to watch the 
tremendous swoops of these great creatures. The 
younger birds are of a brownish black, while the old 
ones are light-gray in color and easily distinguished 
by their size. 

But the wee Cape pigeon is not to be despised ; I 
love to watch one as he soars up to windward and 
then, turning, comes down the wind at a speed so 
astonishing that I cannot estimate it at less than 
seventy miles an hour ; and being so light-hearted 
and gay, they form a striking contrast to the gaunt, 
grim albatross. Sailors generally divide the latter 
genus into three species : the wandering, the yellow- 
billed, and the sooty albatross. The first two are the 
most common, the wanderer being the largest known 
sea-bird, specimens having been taken measuring 
seventeen feet in alar extent, and weighing twenty- 
five pounds. It is found in all parts of the Southern 
Ocean, and also on the coast of Asia south of Behring 
Strait. The yellow-billed albatross is equally com- 
mon, those that we saw this morning being of this 
species. Their favorite breeding-places are the Cro- 
zets, in the southern Indian Ocean, and the South 
Shetlands, six hundred miles southeast of Cape 
Horn. I am in possession, however, of two of their 
eggs, brought to me from the Diego Ramirez, sixty 
miles west-southwest of the Horn, by an old ac- 

157 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

quaintance, an ex-skipper of Stonington sealers, who 
passed many years in the vicinity of Cape Horn, 
wintering at Sandy Point, and in summer penetrating 
far to the southward in quest of seals. 

We killed our first pig to-day, and if tradition 
holds good we'll have a gale of wind to-morrow. 
They butchered the little porker up forward, and 
after he had been cleaned and hung up under one of 
the boat-skids he tipped the scales at thirty-four 
pounds. 

All hope of sighting Tristan d'Acunha, has been 
abandoned, as we are passing too far to the north- 
ward of it. I am very much disappointed in not see- 
ing Tristan, commonly spoken of as the most isolated 
spot on the globe. But this is a mistake, as I found 
land on the chart three hundred miles southeast of 
it, called Gough Island, not to mention Nightingale 
and Inaccessible Islands ; but the latter two and 
Tristan are so close together that they are generally 
spoken of as one group. Tristan dAcunha is only 
seven miles in diameter, but it has a mountain seven 
thousand feet high ; so that the island is a very con- 
spicuous place in the South Atlantic. The climate is 
said to be very healthy, and the inhabitants number 
one hundred. 

From my own calculations on the chart, I should 
say that the most isolated spot on the globe is 
Dougherty Island, in 59° south and 1 19° west. The 
nearest land shown is Cape Horn, away over in (yy^ 
west, a tiny speck called Nimrod being the only land 
between Dougherty and New Zealand, and that is as 
far to the west as the Horn is to the east. As a 

158 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

matter of fact, it is very difficult to find an island five 
hundred miles from any other land, and there are not 
more than one or two such places on the globe. 
Amsterdam Island, in the southern Indian Ocean, 
would be one were it not for St. Paul, only seventy 
miles away ; and Kerguelen Island would be another, 
in 50° south and 70° east, were it not for McDonald 
Island, two hundred and fifty miles southeast of it. 
The New York Journal of Commerce said, not long 
ago, that probably the most isolated spot yet dis- 
covered is Treibos, but I have unfortunately forgotten 
the location, and it is not down on any chart on 
board. 

We got no sights to-day, and our dead-reckoning 
put us in 35° 33' south; longitude, 11° 21' west. 
We logged two hundred and forty miles. 

Sunday, September g 

Ten weeks ago to-day the little tug-boat cast us 
off abreast of the Sandy Hook light-ship, and they've 
been the shortest ten weeks I ever remember; I'd 
like to go back and start all over again. We are 
doing splendidly, having averaged eleven knots and 
a half for the twenty-four hours. The wind was 
very strong in the middle watch and in the four hours 
we logged just fifty miles, — pretty fair for a foul ship. 
By observation to-day we made three hundred and 
one miles since yesterday, which showed that our 
dead-reckoning of yesterday was at fault, for during 
only a short time in the twenty-four hours did we 
log twelve knots. To-morrow at noon we ought to 
be very close to the Greenwich meridian, and then 

159 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

only twenty degrees to the Cape. It was so cold this 
morning that the skipper had a soft-coal fire started 
in the grate, — a most welcome luxury, for we've been 
shivering with cold for two days. As a result of 
building too large a fire at first, some of the wood- 
work about the grate was scorched and the varnish 
cracked and blistered. The steward soon made 
everything all right, and then went forward to where 
the woUy old second mate was standing and, with a 
good show of alarm, announced that there was a fire 
in the cabin. Instantly Mr. Kelly was all excitement 
and sung out, " Lay aft both watches with buckets ; 
the cabin's afire," at the same time waddling aft as 
fast as his circular legs would let him. As soon as 
he was in the entry-way he saw the joke that had 
been played upon him, and, as he cordially detests 
the steward, I look for a few minutes' fun some day 
when he pays him back. Old Kelly says that on 
American ships the steward is always ready to give 
a piece of pie or cold sago-pudding, or whatever may 
be left in the pantry, to the officers during the middle 
and morning watches, putting it on the cabin-table 
before turning in ; but that never a morsel can he get 
out of our steward except a cup of coffee when he 
turns out at four in the morning. I believe the 
steward is very mean, and I have often looked down 
through the skylight, when he and the second mate 
are at dinner, and seen him appropriate the best of 
everything that was left. Certain it is that the men are 
beginning to grumble at the food, though they have 
all the soft bread they can eat. And speaking of 
eating reminds me of the pig we had to-day at 

1 60 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

dinner. I had heard before we started on the 
voyage about sea-fed pork, but what we had to-day- 
went away beyond my expectations. I never tasted 
such pig-meat in my Hfe. It was enough to tempt a 
Jew. It fairly melted away in one's mouth, and the 
flavor was the most delicate and the brown, crisp fat 
the most succulent that Vitellius or Lucullus himself 
ever dreamed of. This is a pretty strong statement, 
but I believe it's true, and I am at the same time 
making allowance for the fact that we have not tasted 
fresh meat for two months. Captain Kingdon did 
not exaggerate when he told me that I would find 
sea-fed pig the best eating in the world. The little 
pig ought to last us three or four days, as the only 
parts given to the men are the head and feet. I am 
lying iri wait for the pork-chops to-morrow for break- 
fast. Latitude at noon, 35° 43' south; longitude, 5° 
west. 

September 10 

To-day came on with lowering sky and heavy sea, 
that kept the decks full of water ; that is, there would 
often be two feet of water in the scuppers when she 
rolled. The big square ports in the bulwarks have 
been opened and iron gratings lashed across them to 
prevent the men from being sucked through as the 
water runs off; these ports are about two feet square, 
and there are three on each side, so that they will 
free the decks in considerably less than a minute. 
The wind shifted in the morning watch and at eight 
bells was at north-northeast, so that we had to brace 
the yards up a couple of points, bringing the wind 
II 161 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

abeam. A regular cloud of pigeons follows us all 
the time, and the albatrosses, too, are becoming 
much more numerous. 

Fifty years ago a seafaring-man would no more 
have thought of killing an albatross than he would 
one of the crew, — a fact graphically set forth by 
Coleridge in his " Rime of the Ancient Mariner." 
But so completely has the superstition passed away 
that some calamity will happen if an albatross is 
harmed, that the skipper this morning sent a Win- 
chester bullet whizzing after one; but though the 
aim was excellent, the ball apparently passing 
through the wing, only a shower of feathers and 
quills followed, the great bird keeping right on. I 
noticed then for the first time the extreme narrow- 
ness of the wing in proportion to the length. 

It affords my wife much pleasure to feed the 
swarms of pigeons ; she has made quite a habit of 
whistling in a peculiar way just before she begins 
to throw them the fat, and the little fellows have 
learned so quickly that as soon as they hear the 
first notes of the whistle they collect in great num- 
bers close to the mizzen-shrouds, ready to fall upon 
the tiniest particle of fat. It is really a very pretty 
sight, and reminds one somewhat of pictures of a 
girl feeding pigeons in a barn-yard, only in this case 
the barn-yard is the angry surface of the South 
Atlantic and these pigeons are more agreeable at a 
distance than at close range. 

If Captain Kingdon missed the albatross this fore- 
noon, he was more successful after dinner, as he was 
lucky enough to catch one of the pigeons, and we had 

162 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

a good chance of examining one of these interesting 
birds. Fortunately, his stomach was empty. He 
was about the size of a gull, only not so slim, and to 
look at him one would think he ought to be good 
to eat ; but I never heard of any one who had the 
temerity. After we had tired of looking at him we 
placed him on the edge of the poop, off of which he 
instantly flopped, and then, catching himself, he flew 
away and was soon lost in the midst of his com- 
panions. 

About the middle of the forenoon watch the sea 
began to make very rapidly, and, the wind freshening 
considerably, the royals were stowed at ten, followed 
by the top-gallants half an hour later, the wind being 
very strong with savage squalls ; at two in the after- 
noon the maintop-gallant was set, though there were 
still strong puffs, and the sea increasing. 

I wanted to go forward to the carpenter's shop 
just after dinner; so I started out very bravely, 
hugging the lee side of the mizzen-house, in spite of 
the warning from the mate, who sung out from the 
poop never to try to go forward on the lee side in 
heavy weather. I had pretty lively work to dodge 
one sea between the poop and midship-house ; but I 
got along all right till I let go the hand-rail of the 
deck-house and was about to traverse the worst part 
just abreast of the main-hatch, when I heard a sea 
coming. It was too late to save myself, and as I 
looked up what seemed to me a mountain of water 
appeared over the weather rail and came roaring and 
tumbling across the deck. I clutched madly at the 
tarpaulin on the main-hatch, but I couldn't hold on ; 

163 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

then I grabbed a rope, but it wasn't belayed, and I 
fetched away and slid over into the lee scuppers, 
bringing to in a good deal more than two feet of ice- 
cold water, but without suffering any damage. A 
perfect hurricane of laughter, not only from the poop, 
but from all sides, taxed my temper to the utmost. I 
tried to laugh too, but I could do nothing but gasp 
and sputter, and it was fully ten minutes before I got 
my breath back and my teeth stopped clicking 
together after my cold plunge. 

Our sights to-day were very poor; the horizon 
was thick and the sky almost constantly overcast. 
Latitude, 35° 43' south; longitude, 0°. 

September 1 1 

There was less wind this morning than yesterday, 
and all sail was clapped on. Last night at ten the 
fore and mizzentop-gallants were set, and at eleven 
the main-royal. In this morning's watch the fore 
and mizzen-royals were spread to the breeze, and at 
ten o'clock all three sky-sails followed. Even though 
the wind is lighter, we've crossed the Greenwich me- 
ridian and are still driving to the eastward at the 
rate of four degrees a day. At least one hundred and 
fifty Cape pigeons and a score of gunies are astern of 
us, besides a dozen or so of slate-colored birds about 
the size of the pigeons, but not nearly so plump, being 
something like a gull, but much darker ; while some 
distance astern of all four immense albatrosses are 
wheeling through the air as if disdaining to mingle 
with the oi TzolXoi ahead of them. I watched them 
closely for a long time this morning, and only once in 

164 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

fifteen minutes did any one of them flap his wings. 
I think this is very remarkable ; as, unlike the frigate- 
bird, the albatross often flies close to the surface of 
the water, following the undulations, dipping down 
in the hollow between the largest seas and rising 
again just in time to escape the foaming crest of the 
following wave, and all this without a single motion 
of the wing. 

The skipper, about nine o'clock this evening, 
brought out a lot of pop-corn and then sent the 
steward for an iron pot, which he half filled with 
coarse salt. I couldn't imagine what he was going 
to do with this till he explained that it was one of 
the most successful ways of popping corn, as the 
salt, as soon as it becomes very hot, pops the grains 
much more uniformly than the familiar iron cage, 
which generally burns them. Captain Kingdon en- 
joys everything of this sort as much as a school-boy, 
and he often romps with Pete almost by the hour, 
the cat coming in for his share of attention. We 
have a jolly time every evening, particularly when 
we are not rolling too much for cards or dominoes. 
The skipper is very fond of three-handed euchre, 
and we have great tournaments when the weather 
permits. 

There is an immense quantity of back-number 
magazines on board, — Harper's, Scribner's, and the 
Popular Science Monthly; they make the most in- 
teresting reading on an occasion like this; and as 
there are fully one hundred and fifty copies of these 
magazines on board, not to mention several years of 
Chambers's Journal handsomely bound and presented 

165 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

some time ago to the skipper by the owners, there is 
no fear of the supply running short. 

At four this afternoon the wind had lightened to 
a gentle breeze and backed to west by north, with 
a swell setting from the westward. The sights were 
very uncertain. Latitude, 36° 30' south ; longitude, 
4° 50' east. 

September 12 

A gloriously clear morning, with the wind blowing 
a whole-sail breeze from right aft, and not a cloud in 
sight. It is most unusual weather to experience in 
this part of the world, and it cannot last long. 

Just after dinner we saw a whale blowing on the 
weather quarter, and coming rapidly toward us. Be- 
fore long he was abreast of us and not more than a 
hundred yards away, and I had hopes that he would 
stop with us awhile, so that we could have a look at 
him. The skipper, who is possessed of considerable 
knowledge of whales, said that he was a right whale 
and seemed to him a very large specimen. Just as 
we were congratulating ourselves on having so good 
an opportunity of examining the great beast, he sud- 
denly became alarmed at something, spouted vio- 
lently and, clapping on all sail, rushed forward at a 
tremendous speed and vanished. It was very sur- 
prising to see so clumsy an animal propel itself at such 
an astonishing speed ; he seemed to lift himself clear 
out of the water with every motion of his tail ; and 
as he swam close to the surface, his back was visible, 
until we could no longer follow his progress. 

Captain Kingdon told me to-day, in answer to an 
166 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

inquiry, that during his experience as master he has 
been cast away in two ships, and that one foundered 
with him four hundred miles east-southeast of Cape 
Agulhas, The first vessel he lost on the coast of 
Borneo during a typhoon in the China Sea; the 
second was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef that 
extends for twelve hundred miles along the northeast 
coast of Australia ; while, as I have said before, the 
last vessel that he lost foundered in the Southern 
Ocean, all hands having a providential escape. The 
vessel, which was a very old one, had sprung a leak 
in a heavy gale to the eastward of the Cape, and was 
making a great deal of water ; so that the skipper, 
when the gale was over, decided to bear up for Table 
Bay. But a second gale coming on, he had to run be- 
fore it, deeming that his best chance. It was not long, 
however, before all hands knew that the foundering of 
the ship was a matter of but another day at the outside, 
as it was impossible to keep the water down with the 
pumps. Here was a terrible position to be in, the 
chance of rescue being infinitesimal ; for, though they 
were in the track of ships bound to the East, in so 
vast a sea the chance of being picked up was not 
worth mentioning, and the nearest civilized land was 
now seven hundred miles away, dead to windward. 
Toward the close of the afternoon, though, when 
they had almost abandoned hope, a large vessel, 
called by the English a four-masted bark, hove in 
sight ; and though the gale was still very heavy, all 
hands were encouraged, and the skipper set the 
signals " I am sinking," to which the stranger replied 
by running down to the foundering vessel and 

J67 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

heaving to, Captain Kingdon after hard work having 
brought his ship to the wind on sighting the other 
vessel. Then he launched a boat, which was instantly 
stove against the ship's side, but was more fortunate 
a second time, though the sea was so heavy that the 
skipper's wife and daughter had to be lowered into 
the boat by a whip from the mainyard-arm. Finally, 
though, after a long struggle, all hands were trans- 
ferred and landed at Newcastle, New South Wales, 
the ship foundering actually before their eyes. 

We had fine observations to-day, which put us in 
latitude 36° 58' south; longitude, 7° 39' east. 

September 13 

Last evening we were visited by a thunder-squall 
of considerable violence ; so violent, indeed, that sail 
had to be shortened in the quickest possible time. 
We had not been doing so very well all day, the 
wind shifting back and forth between west and north- 
northwest, with a heavy swell setting from the west- 
ward. Nothing stronger than a fresh breeze had 
blown since the morning watch, and all day we had 
carried the three sky-sails without fear of splitting 
them. While we were finishing supper the second 
mate stuck his bewhiskered, crimson face in the 
cabin doorway and said, " There's sharp lightning in 
the nor'west, and it looks like a heavy squall, sir." 

We went on deck at once and, looking over the 
port quarter, we saw an immense black cloud, cover- 
ing the whole western sky and fairly writhing with 
tremendous electrical discharges. 

Captain Kingdon looked at it for a minute or two, 
168 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

then walked to the break of the poop and sung out 
to the mate, " Mr, Ryan, get the sky-sails, royals, 
and fore and mizzentop-gallants stowed; haul up 
the main-sail and cross-jack, and let the outer jib 
run down." Both watches jumped into the rigging ; 
and though the men worked as hard and fast as they 
could, it was a great many minutes before the canvas 
was furled, so very short-handed do square-riggers 
go to sea nowadays. Before the men came down 
from aloft the skipper ordered in the maintop- 
gallant, leaving us under very short sail and fit to 
encounter anything short of a tornado, all the remain- 
ing canvas being the top-sails and foresail. I thought 
we were going to be caught right in the centre of the 
squall, and so we took firm hold of the weather rail, 
braced for the impending shock. But when the 
squall had approached to within half a mile or so it 
seemed to change its course, just grazing us; and 
we could see the surface of the water to windward 
seething and bubbling furiously. Our precautions, 
therefore, while fully justified by the sinister appear- 
ance of the sky, were not necessary after all ; though 
perhaps it was just as well that we had furled the 
top-gallants, for, while we escaped the full force of 
the squall, we experienced a heavy blast that made 
the old " Mandalore" tremble beneath the shock, and 
sent the wind-gods shrieking through the rigging. 
We were the witnesses also of a magnificent elec- 
trical display, the dazzling flashes reaching from 
horizon to zenith in a perfect net-work of fire; 
though the thunder was muffled, probably by the 
roar of the wind. For a few seconds after the most 

169 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

vivid flashes the eye was quite blinded so that it 
was impossible to distinguish anything, so very bril- 
liant were the discharges. The disturbance passed 
in an hour or so, and at ten p.m. we had the fore- and 
main-royals set, but nothing above the mizzentop- 
sails, the wind coming from the westward as before, 
and moderate. 

The approach of a heavy squall at sea is a very 
impressive sight. The skipper is on the poop rest- 
lessly pacing fore and aft, at every turn casting a 
searching glance at the black cloud-bank rapidly 
approaching. In a few minutes come the expected 
orders to the officers, delivered in our case in a deep, 
resounding voice that thrills one as he listens. The 
mate repeats the commands to the men, who jump 
into the rigging and swing themselves aloft and 
work their way out on the yards like great monkeys, 
each man striving for his life, for the squall may dis- 
mast the ship and no one knows what is behind it. 
Before it strikes, though, the sails are all furled, the 
gaskets secured, and the men are just laying down 
from aloft, when, with a curious sort of scream, the 
squall strikes the ship and she careens till her rail 
nearly touches the water, only to recover and, quickly 
gathering way, off she tears before the wind, through 
the drenching rain that accompanies these squalls. 

At 10.30 I went up forward to have a look around, 
and as I passed the galley I heard voices raised as if 
in dispute ; and creeping stealthily up I saw a group 
of men standing close to the head-pump, though I 
could not make them out till a cloud that obscured 
the moon had passed by. Then I saw that the men 

170 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

were old Kelly, the second mate ; Carson, the Ameri- 
can, and the Finn, — Carson's right-hand man. The 
latter was "jawing" Kelly at a great rate, and before 
long I heard him say, in a most sarcastic tone, his 
words plentifully interspersed with sea-oaths, " You 
ain't got no second mate's ticket." " Yes I have," 
answered old Kelly. " You lie !" said Carson ; " and 
how are yer goin' to get away from Calcutta without 
one? Yer'll find no American ships there." I 
couldn't hear what Kelly answered, but by and by I 
caught from Carson, " Ah, I'm sick er you and the 
' M. P. Grace ;' yer couldn't get a second mate's 
berth on the * W. R. Grace,' and I know why, 'cause 
they wouldn't have yer." I left them at this junct- 
ure, for I didn't want them to know I had overheard 
them, wondering why the second mate allows a fore- 
mast hand to talk like that to him. A moment's 
reflection, though, showed me that Mr. Kelly fears 
Calcutta and the sailor-parson ; and as the second 
mate and Carson have probably been shipmates in 
American vessels in the Frisco trade before this, the 
latter is doubtless getting in some fine work in retalia- 
tion for sundry thumps Kelly has very likely given 
him in days gone by. But, Calcutta or not, I cannot 
see how the second mate of a ship can allow a fore- 
mast hand to blackguard him. Carson is spoiling 
for a fight, and the Finn thinks he's the finest thing 
on earth, and to-night looked as though he wanted 
only a word to jump on the second mate. Latitude 
at noon, 37° 12' south; longitude, 11° east. 



171 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

September 14 

There is a sea running to-day that would, I think, 
satisfy nearly every one, though the waves are not 
so large as I expected. Still, I think that a great 
many people wouldn't like to hear them come roaring 
over the weather rail as they are doing now, or ex- 
perience the tremendous rolling. I sincerely trust, 
though, to see some of the Fitzroy seas before we 
show our stern to the Southern-Cross. 

A very amusing incident happened last evening 
after the squall that I forgot to note in yesterday's 
log. The shortening of sail had been an all hands' 
job, and, according to custom, every man on board 
was entitled to a drink. So the skipper produced a 
demijohn of very powerful rum, half-filled a bucket 
with it, and then poured in water till the pail was 
full. The grog was then served to the men, all 
hands collecting aft to receive each man his tot. 
When all had been served (except the Norwegian 
'prentice, who refused it), the mate, who poured out 
the grog, emptied the last drop into Mr. Kelly's 
mug. "Arn't you going to have any?" I asked 
him. Upon which he looked very knowing and 
winked as he said, " Naw ; the old man's goin' to 
give me a hot Scotch, I guess." And he kept on 
guessing, for not even a smell of hot Scotch did he 
get, the skipper having mentioned it and then for- 
gotten it. I don't believe the mate will ever hear 
the end of it. 

I asked Captain Kingdon this morning if he ever 
felt the least nervous in very bad weather ; he an- 
swered, " No, not in the * Mandalore,' " though he 

172 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

had been through heavy gales off the Horn and the 
Cape and in the North Atlantic. He said, however, 
that he must honestly confess that he was very ner- 
vous in a severe thunder-storm and in a cyclone. 
And, now that I remember, the skipper was very 
restless last night in the thunder-squall, though we 
were not in the worst of it. When I asked him further 
whether a cyclone at sea was very much worse than 
a violent gale, he said it was so much worse that the 
two could no more be compared than could a strong 
breeze and a gale ; and that the aspect of the sea 
and sky, as well as the tremendous fury of the wind, 
were appalling beyond words. And as the old skip- 
per has been in three typhoons in the China Sea 
and one each in the Bay of Bengal and Indian 
Ocean, it is fair to presume that he is qualified to 
speak on the subject. To use his own words, " I 
dread a cyclone." So do most skippers, but they 
won't own to it. 

The second mate to-day bet Mr. Ryan that we'd 
have a gale of wind before we were in 30° east, ob- 
serving that, though he'd never doubled the Cape 
before, he'd back his opinion with a silver dollar. It 
is a curious fact that, though the second mate has 
been to sea fully forty years and has weathered the 
Horn sixty-four times, he has never doubled the 
Cape before. Latitude, 37° 48' south; longitude, 
13° 53' east. 

September 15 

This is my dear wife's birthday, and an incident 
occurred to mark it: we caught three albatrosses 

173 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

before dinner. The wind was light all day and the 
weather favorable for the purpose ; so about ten this 
morning, not having much way on, a moderate-sized 
fish-hook was secured to a stout hemp line and 
baited temptingly with pork-fat. As soon as we put 
it over, a flock of pigeons darted for it and began 
their usual fighting and squabbling for bits of the 
meat. I was afraid that they would tear all the fat 
off the hook before the albatrosses would see it, for 
they were some distance astern. But at length, at- 
tracted probably by the actions and cries of the 
pigeons, they gradually circled up to us, and, catch- 
ing sight of the tempting morsel, one of the boldest 
dashed into the midst of the pigeons (who disap- 
peared as if they had melted away) and, seizing the 
lump of fat, attempted to rise from the surface of the 
water, where he had settled in order to take the bait. 
We let him have time to swallow the hook or nearly 
so, and then, giving the line a sharp tug after the 
manner of anglers, we hooked him and hauled him 
through the water, struggling and resisting with all 
his great strength, and up on deck, where, after much 
trouble, we disengaged the hook from his mouth. 
It was astonishing to see the big bird extend his 
webbed feet to the utmost and spread his wings to 
hold back as we dragged him through the water, he 
resisting and bracing his feet out in front of him as 
though this were not the first time he had been 
caught. 

I was never more surprised than I was on a close 
examination of the great creature. Instead of having 
a scraggy look such as vultures have, he presented 

174 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

a really grand appearance. He had a fine head and 
was possessed of an enormous, curved bill, at least 
ten inches long, the upper side forming a kind of 
hook. But his eyes were particularly attractive, 
being not so fierce and wild as an eagle's, but larger, 
perfectly black, and full of lustre and positive dignity. 
They also showed an amount of intelligence sur- 
prising in a bird. The most startling thing about 
him, though, was his size. I didn't suppose that his 
wings would have been more than six feet across, but I 
found by actual measurement that he was ten feet 
and a half from tip to tip. What the big sixteen- 
and seventeen-footers look like I cannot conceive. 
It seemed a pity to keep such grand birds captive, 
and indeed one was let go through a mistake of one 
of the men, who misunderstood when the skipper 
said to take him forward, and hove him overboard. 
The two that were left were killed for their feathers 
and down, and the red, beef-like flesh thrown to the 
chickens, who greedily picked the carcasses perfectly 
clean. The skipper told me that he has often hauled 
an albatross on board quite dead, having been 
drowned while being pulled through the water ; and 
one of those we caught to-day sputtered and choked 
for ten minutes. If one is placed on deck where 
people are passing, it is necessary to tie his beak 
with a piece of marline or something, as they have a 
disagreeable way of snapping at one's fingers and 
legs ; and, as their bills are very powerful, a bite from 
one would be a very serious affair, for I dare say that 
under the most favorable conditions they could break 
the bones of a man's finger. 

175 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Thus we celebrated my wife's birthday, with the 
addition of a glass of Ruinart Brut at dinner. As 
for the day, I said before that the wind was light and a 
heavy roll prevented our sleeping last night, as it was 
utterly impossible to stay in the bunk without hold- 
ing on. The wind shifted to the northward late in 
the afternoon and blew a fresh breeze. Latitude at 
noon, 37° 33' south; longitude, 16° 43' east. 

Sunday, September 16 

Eleven weeks at sea to-day, and at half-past ten 
this morning we doubled Cape Agulhas ; that is, we 
were on the same meridian as that headland ; and 
when skippers say they have been so many days 
from the line to the Cape, they always mean from 
the equator to the longitude of Agulhas, even 
though they may be seven or eight degrees south 
of it. As the Cape is in about 34° 40' south, we 
are, therefore, two hundred and forty miles to the 
southward of it, and have been seventy-seven days 
at sea and twenty-nine from the line. This is about 
the average time from the equator, but what a tre- 
mendous muddle we made of the first part of the 
voyage ! 

We have had a grand breeze from northwest all 
day, the best possible quarter, as it is not so cold as 
the biting southerly winds, and we have done better 
than ten knots since daylight, which would be thir- 
teen if the ship were clean. 

What surprises me more than anything else since 
we took the strong winds is the ability of a ship to 
carry sail with the wind aft. I have known the 

176 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

" Mandalore" to lug a main-sky-sail when there was 
a very strong wind blowing, and a heavy sea to boot, 
so that close hauled we couldn't have shown any- 
thing above a maintop-gallant, and perhaps not that. 
I recall one morning four or five days ago, when 
Captain Kingdon hung on to his main-sky-sail when 
the tops were blown off the seas, and I looked every 
minute to see something go, for the royal-masts were 
bending so that it seemed that a single pound more 
pressure must carry them over the side. I should 
like to see a schooner yacht in this sea ; for, while she 
would take the big billows easier than we do, there 
are plenty of seas from six to eight feet high, that 
have no effect on us, that I should think would 
sweep the decks of a yacht continuously ; and the 
larger seas come rushing at you with four or five feet 
of foam on their crests, which no small vessel with 
low freeboard could get away from. 

No matter how heavy the seas are or how flooded 
the decks, the men still have to come aft at mid-day 
for their lime-juice, and each man has to drink his tin 
mugful before he goes forward again. This is what 
is called fortified lime-juice, and comes in bottles 
holding about two quarts. A certain proportion is 
added to a bucket of water, and then each man, as I 
said before, is compelled to drink one mugful. I 
used to think that the men objected to taking it, but 
they don't, realizing that it prevents nearly entirely 
that terrible sailor's scourge, scurvy. It is in charge 
of the steward, who personally doles it out. On 
American ships I do not think that the drinking of 
lime-juice is compulsory, but on all Englishmen on 
12 177 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

long voyages it is, and hence the name "Lime- 
juicers." The law must be a good one, though, for 
one seldom hears nowadays of scurvy in comparison 
to the tales one used to hear of half the crew of a 
ship succumbing to the dread disease. Latitude at 
noon, 38° 39' south; longitude, 20° 13' east. 

September 17 

Last night we were favored with some very heavy 
rolling ; indeed, the motion was so violent that we, 
hardened by eleven weeks at sea, could sleep but 
little. The wind was nearly aft and a heavy sea 
running from the westward, and, of course, under 
these conditions the inevitable happened. With the 
wind anywhere near abeam, the pressure of the 
wind on the canvas prevents to a great degree the 
more violent oscillations. But last night, the wind 
being almost dead aft and the yards therefore laid 
square, we were hustled about most abominably, the 
ship taking large quantities of water on board over 
both rails by sheer rolling. Let the yards be braced 
up even a couple of points, and the violent motion is 
arrested at once. This holds good in a calm as well. 
This morning, about the middle of the forenoon 
watch, we had a heavy squall ; took in the three sky- 
sails and the fore- and mizzen-royals for it, and hauled 
up the weather side of the main-sail and both clews 
of the cross-jack. It was a nasty squall, but it passed 
in half an hour, when it partially cleared up and 
commenced to blow a strong breeze from west, cant- 
ing southerly. 

As one continues to sail on for days and weeks in 
178 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the same direction, the ship's head pointing to the 
rising sun, one cannot help marvelling at the loneli- 
ness of the great Southern Ocean and at the immense 
solitudes encompassed within its boundaries. Sailors 
generally confine its limits to that part of the ocean 
extending from the thirty-fifth parallel to the antarctic 
circle, and extending almost completely around the 
world. South of latitude 45° there is nothing to 
break its continuity but the southernmost extremity 
of the New World ; and it is between this and the 
antarctic continent that the fierce westerly gales 
sweep in all their wild freedom throughout the year, 
and the tremendous seas roll on around the world 
with nothing to break their majestic progress save 
the narrow strip of Patagonia and one or two deso- 
late clusters of islands. In the Southern Ocean one 
might encompass the globe without sighting a vessel 
or anything fashioned by the hand of man. Indeed, 
although we are so far to the northward we have 
seen nothing for many days, which goes further to 
show the immensity of this expanse of ocean, for the 
trade to Australia and the far East around the Cape 
is very great. As for the sea-birds being companions 
and friends in this lonely ocean, I think they rather 
serve to increase one's sense of desolation, particu- 
larly the grim albatross, which seems to me the very 
embodiment of solitude. 

We covered a good deal of ground or, I should say, 
water in the last twenty-four hours, and at noon we 
were in 38° 50' south; longitude, 24° 45' east. 



179 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

September i8 

This morning came on with a fresh breeze. It 
rapidly increased, and by ten o'clock there was a 
strong wind and sea; so we furled the fore- and mizzen- 
sky-sails. The ship yawed and sheered about a good 
deal all day, but did not take much water on board, 
considering the sea that was running. Every ten 
minutes or so a whooping big billow comes along, 
but she rides them nicely. Notwithstanding, once in 
awhile, with a roaring and rattling, a sea falls over 
the weather side and washes waist-deep into the lee 
scuppers. A heavy sea coming aboard sounds dif- 
ferently from what I supposed it would ; the noise is 
very alarming until one grows accustomed to it, for 
the seas crash and rattle against the iron deck-houses 
like volleys of musketry, and when our first big sea 
boarded us I thought it had smashed everything to 
pieces. It is also very curious why, when running 
before a heavy, quartering sea, the seas never fall in- 
board till they are abreast of the fore-rigging ; that 
is, a large wave will appear on the quarter, and you 
think that if it doesn't break on the poop it will 
certainly come aboard at the mizzen-rigging ; but it 
doesn't, but seems to run along the outside edge of 
the rail till it gets well forward, when the whole mass 
breaks right against the forecastle. It must make it 
pleasant for the men asleep on the weather side of it. 

Nothing can be more exhilarating to watch than the 
advance of one of these great seas, for it will often 
be visible some hundreds of yards astern, and you 
can follow its progress until at last it rushes over the 
rail, completely burying everything in its way for the 

1 80 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

time being. We have as yet had no water on the 
poop except once, when the wind blew the crest of a 
very tall sea aboard, half of it flying over the helms- 
man. The " Mandalore," from the way in which she 
takes a following sea, ought to be able to run out a 
heavy gale of wind, which, indeed, the skipper says 
is the case. In reality, the weatherly qualities of a 
vessel do not depend upon her size, some of the 
largest sailing-ships afloat being the worst sea-boats, 
in addition to being almost unmanageable in a gale 
of wind. One reason for this is to be found in the very 
size of the vessel, as ships of over two thousand five 
hundred tons are too large for one sea and not large 
enough for two, with the natural consequence that 
they make very bad weather of it in a gale, shipping 
seas that a smaller ship would rise to without trouble. 
I have in mind one of our large American ships, — a 
wooden one, of course, — the skipper of which told me 
himself that she was one of the wettest ships he ever 
commanded. I have often wondered how " La France," 
the largest sailing-vessel in the world, behaves in bad 
weather. Her registered tonnage is, I think, about 
three thousand seven hundred, and she is the only five- 
masted ship afloat, being square-rigged on all but the 
fifth mast. She was built on the Clyde for a Bordeaux 
firm, I believe, for the South American trade, and is 
a fine carrier. Before we sailed I heard of another 
five-master that is to be built in Hamburg, called 
the " Potosi," whose net tonnage will be four thousand, 
thus taking the feather out of the cap of " La France" 
and giving the German ensign the honor of waving 
over the largest sailing-ship in the world. 

i8i 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Some years ago there was another five-master, 
called the " Marie Rickmers," built for the great firm 
of Rickmers & Co., of Hamburg. I once heard a 
skipper say that she carried double royal-yards, but, 
as that was about the time that double top-gallants 
were coming into more general use, I suspect that 
that was what he meant. The " Marie Rickmers" 
was built for the salt trade between Hamburg and 
the Indian Ocean, sailed on her maiden voyage, and 
was never seen again. It is thought that she foun- 
dered near Mauritius. Latitude, 39° 5' south ; longi- 
tude, 29° 26' east. 

September 19 

The wind shifted last night and blew a moderate 
breeze from west-northwest. A little after noon it 
backed to southwest and blew hard for an hour; 
had to stow the royals. At 2.30 they were set 
again, but from the present indications we shan't 
carry them long. We were ready for and expected 
a gale this afternoon, but, though it is blowing pretty 
hard, with a heavy sea, I don't think it will amount 
to anything serious. Pete, whom I have not men- 
tioned for some time, has to be kept below nearly all 
day on account of the cold, but the little fellow is 
making fine weather of it. When there is no sun, of 
course he has to be boxed up all day. 

Last night we were boarded by a sea that took old 
Kelly off his feet and washed him away into three 
feet of water in the scuppers. He swore frightfully 
in a steady stream of oaths for perhaps half a minute 
after gaining the poop, and then sung out for Mike, 
. 182 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the boy, to get him a thick coat, for it was his watch 
on deck and he couldn't go below. As a matter of 
fact, though, he did leave the poop for a minute to 
get a light for his pipe, and it was just as he was 
coming out of the forward cabin-door and about to 
mount the poop again that the sea caught him. He 
not only got wet, but lost his pipe as well, while he 
was washing about in the scuppers. He is also 
afraid the skipper heard him below ; and, if it is so, 
he'll get a dressing-down for leaving the poop in 
squally weather. 

Just after Mr. Kelly's unexpected bath, a sea fell 
over the side that was really a big one. I was on 
the poop at the time, and, as I have been watching 
seas board us for some time, I could approximately 
estimate the size of this one. The water was, I 
should think, about eighteen inches deep all over the 
main-deck on the level ; and, reckoning the area of 
the deck at five thousand square feet after deducting 
the space occupied by the hatches and deck-houses, 
this would make the weight of water that came 
aboard in that one sea about two hundred and 
twenty-five tons. This immense volume of water 
will be better appreciated when I say that, although 
all the six big deck-ports in the bulwarks were open, 
the water was flush with the pin-rail every time the 
ship rolled, at the end of a minute; the weight of 
two hundred and twenty-five tons, too, is apt to be 
lightly thought of by most people until reduced to 
a smaller denomination, for it means five hundred 
thousand pounds. 

I thought the chicken-coops would go, but they 
183 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

had been firmly lashed on top of the main-hatch, and 
stuck there in spite of everything, though actually 
half-buried in water. As for the pigs, they were 
nearly drowned, for their cage was secured to ring- 
bolts in the deck and was subjected to a regular 
Niagara at every roll. I did not think the bulwarks 
themselves could stand such a bombardment as they 
did for a couple of minutes. The entry-way into the 
cabin was flooded, but, the inside door being closed, 
no water penetrated within. This idea of a sort of 
vestibule is a very good one, and its usefulness was 
proved to-night. It is about three feet square, and 
there is an outer and inner door leading into the 
cabin, each with a sill a foot or more high, so that, 
even if the outer door is carelessly left open, as it 
was to-night, the inner one will prevent the entrance 
of water. The entry-way serves also as an excellent 
place to hang wet oil-skins and boots. 

We had to go by dead-reckoning to-day, for we 
got no sights. Our position, as near as we could 
judge at noon, was: Latitude, 39° south; longitude, 
34° east. 

September 20 

At one o'clock this morning we had a heavy squall 
from the westward, during which we carried away 
the starboard mizzentop-gallant clew-iron and ripped 
the upper mizzentop-sail. It made a very nasty mess, 
and the second mate, who had charge of the deck, 
was afraid the top-gallant-sail would blow away, and, 
as it was a brand-new one, the loss would be con- 
siderable. It was an exceedingly difficult job for the 

184 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

men to secure the sail, as it was slatting at a terrible 
rate, the broken clew-iron threatening death to any 
one who approached ; and as the night was dark as 
a pocket, and the rain during the squall fit to knock 
the men off the yard, it really required a great deal 
of skill to properly stow the sail. The upper mizzen- 
top-sail had to come in too, and there will be plenty 
of work for " sails" to-day. It was fairly clear for 
an hour or so after the squall, but the glass began 
to fall, with lightning in the southwest, and the 
squalls continued, gradually increasing in strength, 
and when I went on deck this morning I found the 
ship running before a strong southwest gale, under 
lower top-sails and foresail, and a very heavy sea on. 
It was a regular storm-rig, and we wanted it. Last 
night in a savage squall the cross-jack split from 
head to foot, and it was with difficulty that the sail 
was saved, though it was not such hard work as the 
men had with the mizzentop-gallant ; and at the 
change of the watch, at four this morning, the skipper 
thought best to put the ship under lower top-sails. 
Oh, it was a grand spectacle that greeted us as we 
emerged from the companion-way after breakfast. I 
never saw such magnificent seas as these that came 
rolHng up in splendid majesty out of the southwest, 
the crest of each six feet deep with boiling foam, the 
billows themselves as regular as the pendulum of a 
clock. There were no confused pyramidal seas to 
break the advance of the great rollers, and we could 
watch each one as it came rushing on with resistless 
force, holding our breath lest it should break on the 
poop ; and then, as it marched grandly by and fell 

185 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

aboard up forward with its deep, resonant roar, fol- 
lowed instantly by the rattle of the spray, an involun- 
tary " Ah !" escaped us, and we felt repaid for all the 
inconveniences of the voyage just by this one ex- 
hibition of what we had so longed for. 

At three o'clock the upper top-sails were set, and at 
five the maintop-gallant, though the puffs were still 
very heavy. After supper we had a succession of 
hard squalls, with severe hail that pattered against 
the binnacle-hoods and iron ventilators like small 
shot. The ship took in large quantities of water 
from the lee side all day, and life-lines were stretched 
along the main-deck for the men. The weather is 
very cold and it is impossible to stop on deck more 
than a few minutes without being chilled, even 
though wrapped in the heaviest clothes and oil-skins. 
This southerly wind is the most piercing, stinging 
blast I ever felt, and seems to bid defiance to every- 
thing. 

The sky was clear all day and we got good sights, 
which put us in latitude 38° 28' south; longitude, 
38° 52' east. 

September 21 

I went on deck before breakfast, to find the ship 
under royals again and a light breeze blowing from 
southwest. During the past twelve hours we have 
not made much, the wind being weak ; and we rolled 
horribly all night. Generally the skipper will brace 
the yards up a couple of points if possible, so as to 
ease the rolling ; but last night, the wind being light, 
he wanted to make the most of it, and he wouldn't 

186 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

touch the braces ; of course, we never mention it 
when he does not. The rolling really was tremen- 
dous, but perfectly regular from the even run of the 
tall southwest swell, giving one the idea of perpetual 
motion. 

But, notwithstanding the discomforts, no one who 
has not made a long voyage can understand the 
cosiness and actually home-like interior of the saloon 
after the lights have been lit and the supper-things 
cleared away. A coal-fire glows with a comforting 
cheer in the grate, and my wife is generally sitting 
braced on the floor, engaged in the more or less diffi- 
cult operation, considering the savage rolling, of the 
manufacture of candy. I am usually seated at the 
organ, where by long practice I have learned to 
balance myself in all but the most violent heaves. 
The genial, good-tempered old skipper then claws 
his way over to the side-board, extracts a bottle of 
" Square Face," or Scotch whiskey, jams a kettle of 
water on the coals so that it will not capsize, and 
before many minutes has brewed a heart-warming 
cordial for us, with a tumblerful of the steaming 
mixture for the officer of the watch. Nothing adds 
to the comfortable interior as does the riot and con- 
fusion without. Above all, the ear catches the roar 
rising and falling of the wind in the rigging, then the 
heavy dash of rain on the skylight over our head, 
and the thunder of the seas boarding us and rushing 
in cataracts across the deck. All this goes to make 
up a night in the great Southern Ocean, and a feeling 
of gratitude arises that it does not fall to our lot to 
stand four hours in the storm and rain, trying to take 

187 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

advantage of what little shelter is afforded by the 
ventilators on the poop. 

The picture is completed when the young, boyish 
face of the mate looks down the companion-way to 
the stentorian " Mr. Ryan" from the skipper. Then 
down he comes, the water streaming from his yellow 
oil-skins in rivers as he takes the smoking tumbler 
of grog, and, with a hearty "Thank you, sir," jumps 
on deck again to finish the remaining two hours of 
his dismal watch. On alternate nights the fierce 
whiskers and red nose of the second mate's rugged 
countenance take the place of young Mr. Ryan's ; 
but he has bad manners and doesn't even say " Thank 
you" when he has drained the steaming glass, though 
he goes on deck muttering that " He's not a bad old 
man, after all." 

Well, well, these are pleasant evenings for us below, 
to be sure ; our relatives and friends at home are 
doubtless pitying us and giving vent to such expres- 
sions as " I'll bet they wish they hadn't gone, now 
that they're down in the bad weather ;" while our 
immediate families are doubtless offering up prayers 
that we may emerge in safety from the dangers that 
beset the travellers who go down to the sea in ships 
and double the stormy headland of Agulhas. But my 
wife and I will always look back to these evenings in 
the Southern Ocean with joyful recollections, and the 
gray-bearded countenance of good old Captain King- 
don, as he bends over the fire to the grateful warmth, 
will never fade from the memory. Latitude at noon, 
38° 19' south; longitude, 42° 53' east. 



188 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

September 22 

This was a glorious morning, with the highest 
temperature we have had since we lost the southeast 
Trades. Pete had a good time on deck in the middle 
of the day, and there really was a little heat in the 
sun's rays. The wind, though, is still from the south- 
ward of west, but very light, and we have been roll- 
ing dismally without cessation. Things go flying 
about at table despite the racks, which are six inches 
high. It is very uncomfortable to eat with these 
great partitions on the table, for one has to scoop up 
his food from the plate as though his dinner was at 
the bottom of a bucket. The easy motion of the 
ship, though, even in the biggest seas, is remarkable. 
When she begins rolling sometimes, as three extra- 
large, seas come marching up, after she is inclined to 
a great angle you think, " Now, surely, this is as far as 
she'll go." But no ; she keeps on heeling and you 
keep on gripping tighter whatever you can reach, 
until you are certain the masts will roll out of her. 
Then, when you think she has about reached the 
vanishing point, she slowly stops and very leisurely 
begins to roll back again. The first twenty-four 
hours of this sort of rolling you think is bad, though 
you can stand it well; at the end of forty-eight 
hours your patience has been so sorely tried, from 
the necessity of constantly holding on, that you 
begin to lose your temper and find fault with every- 
thing, and on the third day you lose more religion 
than there is any hope of regaining. Then, all un- 
expectedly, you grow accustomed to the motion, 
and by the fourth or fifth day you don't mind it at 

189 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

all. At least, this has been our experience, and I 
expect it would be the same with nearly everybody. 

For the enlightenment and erudition of those 
whose misfortune it is to make land-tacks all their 
lives, I will set forth, in as concise a manner as I can, 
my daily programme, to which I strictly adhere.* At 
7.30, breakfast ; 8,30 to ten, I work navigation prob- 
lems with the help of " Norie's Epitome ;" from ten 
to 11.30 my wife and I struggle with the back- 
gammon-board. Then the noon sight claims a few 
minutes, immediately after which comes dinner. 
From 1.30 to 2.30, on alternate days, lesson in navi- 
gation with the mate; three to 5.30, reading (four to 
five every other day, navigation lesson) ; 5.30, supper ; 
6.30 to eight I usually spend at the harmonium, and 
for the next two hours the skipper and ourselves 
play dominoes or cards (when the rolling permits), 
and after a chat with the officer on watch we turn in 
about 10.30. Thus passes the day, and each one 
flies. 

I never knew anything, though, so exasperating as 
trying to play backgammon in a heavy sea. My wife 
and I are just now playing a match of five hundred 
points, and often when we are at the crucial point of 
a game the ship will give a heavy lurch, and away 
will go the men, sometimes overboard, as half a 
dozen did the other day, when we were silly enough 
to try and play on deck under the lee of the com- 
panion-house. Chips made us some new men out of 
a block of teak ; and as all those that we lost were 
black, we stained the new ones with ink, and now 
we're all right again. 

190 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

We had very good sights to-day, and at noon were 
in latitude 38° 17' south; longitude, 45° 42' east. 

Sunday, September 23 

At sea twelve weeks to-day ; and, as if in recog- 
nition of the fact, the sun crossed the equator, en- 
tered Libra, and commenced his southerly declina- 
tion. The morning broke very fine with a fresh 
breeze, the ship at eight bells going nine knots, with 
the wind at northwest. Our third pig was put to 
death yesterday, and but one little porker remains. 
I am afraid that we welcome the Sabbath more from 
the fact that it brings us a change of diet than from 
any religious feelings. What we will do on Sunday 
when our last pig has been eaten is sad to contem- 
platej but I suppose we'll fall back on baked gutta- 
percha, disguised under the name of roast chicken. 

One of the pleasantest places on board during 
these cold days is the carpenter-shop. Situated just 
forward of the galley, and separated from it only by 
a thin iron bulkhead against which the range is built, 
Chips's workshop is a very comfortable place to 
lounge in, and, if you are on good terms with him, 
an excellent place for drying out wet clothes and 
boots. Indeed, the heat from the galley-range is so 
great that if the lee door were kept closed the place 
would be a good substitute for the hot room of a 
Turkish bath. After dinner you will generally find 
Chips, one of the sail-makers, an apprentice, one of 
the mates, and occasionally a sailor or two seated on 
the long work-bench listening to yarns that invariably 
accompany these gatherings. Every now and then 

191 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the speaker, generally Chips himself, is interrupted 
with " That's a bloody lie," from one of his audience ; 
but with simply a withering look he proceeds ; and 
I must do him the justice to say that his yarns are 
interesting and probably true. 

The narrow room is soon so thick with rank 
tobacco-smoke that some one opens a crack of the 
weather door, when in rushes a blast that whirls 
ashes and cinders out of half a dozen pipes, and there 
is a rush and a scramble to put out any stray spark 
that chanced to light among the shavings. And, in- 
voking a sea-blessing on the head of him that 
opened the weather door, all hands troop out and 
turn in, for of course it is only those whose watch it 
is below that have been warming themselves in the 
carpenter's snug retreat. 

On one subject Chips refuses to talk, and that is 
Norway, his native land. It is strange, but I can get 
nothing out of him about the magnificent fjords, 
Hammerfest (the northernmost town of Europe,) or 
the midnight sun. At Hammerfest the sun for two 
months in the year remains above the horizon. 

Towards supper-time this evening quite a cross-sea 
made, caused by the northwest wind meeting the 
long southwest swell ; and in the event of its coming 
on to blow hard, there'll be a nasty sea running that 
will keep our decks full of water. Latitude at noon, 
38° 8' south; longitude, 49° 15' east. 

September 24 

This morning was a bright and beautiful one, 
though cold. Wind west-southwest. Last night 

192 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

came on windy and between six and nine we had 
half a dozen heavy squalls, with much rain. Furled 
the sky-sails before supper, at 6.15 all the royals, 
and at midnight stowed the mizzentop-gallant in a 
hard squall, the wind being then dead aft. The 
whole night was a dirty one, but when I went on 
deck this morning all the muck and heavy clouds 
had given place to a deep-blue sky and a fresh, 
though biting wind, and we carried the main-sky-sail 
all day. Since we have been running our easting 
down, the wind has been very variable, never blow- 
ing more than eighteen hours from any one point, 
and generally shifting at intervals of twelve hours or 
so between northwest and southwest, the former 
usually bringing rain, just as the southerly winds do 
in the ISTorthern Hemisphere. 

Having brought a number of Marryat's novels 
along, I am reading them with a degree of pleasure 
I never experienced with any other books. Of 
course, almost every boy or man has read " Peter 
Simple" and "Midshipman Easy;" but the majority 
of people who like sea-stories are quite ignorant of 
his other works, and know nothing of the delights 
of "Frank Mildmay," "Jacob Faithful," "Newton 
Forster" and " King's Own ;" while even the book 
of short stories called " OUa Podrida" is interesting 
from cover to cover. Where could a more charming 
little story be found than " Southwest and by West 
Three-Quarters West?" While I do not see how 
a boy of fifteen who is fond of the sea could resist 
joining the navy after reading " Frank Mildmay." 

The great charm of Marryat's works hes in the fact 
13 193 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

that his wit is acute, spontaneous, and usually un- 
expected, and the reader is kept in a constant state 
of explosive mirth, Marryat, indeed, does have senti- 
mental moments, but he expresses his thoughts beau- 
tifully, and none of his books contains the morbid 
apostrophes to the heavenly bodies that make up so 
great a part of modern sea-novels. 

At two in the afternoon the wind shifted from 
west-southwest to south-southwest, and of course 
we had a corresponding decrease in temperature. 
Latitude, 38° 18' south; longitude, 54° f east. 

September 25 

Last night we experienced what was very nearly, 
if not quite, a calm, reminding me of the light 
weather in 30° north, except for the cold. The day 
was as fine a one as yesterday, and little Pete appreci- 
ated it as much as we did. Indeed, I think that in a 
week or ten days we can dispense with the cabin-fire. 
It makes everything below dreadfully dirty, for we 
use bituminous coal, and any one who has used this 
cheerful but troublesome combustible knows to what 
a condition things are reduced in a few days. 

Having been three months at sea and listening 
daily to the conversation of Captain Kingdon, I have 
come to the conclusion that he is a remarkably well- 
read and well-informed man, considering that about 
nine months out of every twelve for forty years have 
been passed at sea. The skipper is particularly fond 
of the works of Herbert Spencer and Huxley, and 
he talks well on questions involving eternity and the 
future life. And I should think that scarcely any 

194 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

other profession is so conducive to thoughts of this 
kind than that of a mariner, provided he is a think- 
ing man. Week after week, for months at a time, 
the deep-water skipper paces alone the weather side 
of his poop, with no one to interrupt his flow of 
ideas, and constantly surrounded by nature in all 
her varying moods, from glassy calm to raging hurri- 
cane; and it seems to me that a man so situated 
cannot but dwell on subjects of eternity and the uni- 
verse. I do not mean to say that sea-captains, as a 
rule, are God-fearing men (though some are, such as 
Captain Samuels, of the " Dreadnought"), but I do 
say that they are so close to nature, and often so 
completely in her power, that their thoughts must 
turn to the question of whether or not there is a 
Ruler of the universe, no matter which side he may 
take. Marryat is of the opinion that in the navy 
the seamen have a deep-rooted religious feeling, born 
in them by the very nature of their calling. He 
argues that religion in a sailor (that is, a common 
seaman) is not a passive, but an active feeling, and 
does not consist in reflection and self-examination, 
but it is in externals that his respect to the Deity is 
evident. Marryat goes on : " Witness the Sunday on 
board a man-of-war ; the care with which the decks 
are washed, the hauling taut and neat coiling down 
of the ropes, the studied cleanliness of person ; most 
of which duties are performed on other days, but on 
this day are executed with particular attention be- 
cause it is Sunday. Then the strict attention paid to 
divine service, which would be a pattern to a congre- 
gation ashore ; the Httle knots of men collected in 

195 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the afternoon between the guns, listening to one who 
reads some serious book ; or the solitary quarter- 
master poring over his thumbed Testament, all prove 
that sailors have a deep-rooted feeling of religion." 
The same author says that he knew a first lieutenant 
to receive a severe rebuke from a ship's company. 
Seeing the men scattered about listlessly one Sunday 
afternoon, he ordered the fiddler up that they might 
dance. The ship's company thanked him, but said 
that they had not been accustomed to dance on that 
day, and requested that the music might be sent 
below. It is Marryat's opinion also that because 
sailors carouse and drink ashore is no reason for 
thinking that they have no religious feeling. He 
compares them on shore-leave to a " mountain lake 
whose waters are constantly increasing ; all is un- 
ruffled till their own weight has forced its boundaries 
and the roaring cataract sweeps everything before 
it." Latitude at noon, 38° 2' south ; longitude, 56° 
45' east. 

September 26 

This was a bright, comparatively warm day, though 
there was but little wind. Three or four very large 
albatrosses have been with us for several days, and 
are so fearless that they occasionally fly right over 
our heads, one of them this morning striking the 
monkey-gaff with his wing. 

We have been doing some revolver shooting 
during the last week, popping away at bottles sus- 
pended from the awning stanchions on the poop. 
My wife is very expert with a pistol, and shoots 

196 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

better with it than the skipper, the mate, or myself. 
This forenoon she thought she'd hke to have a shot 
at the albatrosses; so the skipper brought up his 
Winchester rifle, put only two or three cartridges in 
the magazine, so that it would not be too heavy, and 
gave it to my wife. She watched her chance and 
fired at the nearest albatross as he sailed by, and, to 
our astonishment, down came the great bird, appar- 
ently instantly killed. At any rate, he floated off* 
with his head under water ; and it is safe to infer that 
had his health been good he would not have chosen 
this unusual attitude. It was a splendid shot, and it 
is not given to many women to be able to say that 
they have killed an albatross on the wing with a 
rifle. Thus is old superstition done away with, 
though- I am not certain that there are not one or 
two on board who look with disfavor at the slaughter 
of the bird, and are not certain of reaching port 
without disaster. 

We are all agog with excitement over the coming 
total solar eclipse, which interesting event will tran- 
spire next Friday or Saturday. I have not figured 
it out, but I believe it will occur on Friday. Oh, for 
a clear day with a perfectly transparent atmosphere ! 
If the wind-god will but be propitious, and send us 
a breeze from anywhere between west and southwest, 
the chances of a clear day will be good. Anything 
but a northerly wind, for 'tis then almost certain to 
rain. 

Last night the rolling was abominable, indeed, the 
worst we've had yet ; and I observed that even old 
Kelly with his bowed legs could not stand on deck 

197 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

without holding by the backstays or bracing against 
the skylight. I wish I had a clinometer, so that 
the angle of roll might be ascertained ; I know noth- 
ing about estimating the angle of inclination, so I 
cannot approximate it. An idea may be obtained of 
the rolling when I say that a tumbler not half filled 
with water, and secured on the table so that it could 
not capsize, overflowed at nearly every oscillation 
while we were at supper last evening, and the rolling 
was much more severe in the first and middle watches 
than it was during supper. On such a night as the 
last. Captain Kingdon does not turn into his bunk 
at all, but lies down on his sofa, which is fitted with 
a lee board and is just wide enough for his body; 
that is, about the dimensions of a coffin ; and on or 
rather in this sofa he can repose at ease in the 
heaviest sea. Would to heaven we had some ar- 
rangement like this, for I did not sleep more than 
three hours during the whole of the night. During 
each lull I would doze, only to be nearly spilled out 
of the bunk in five minutes ; and only the practice 
of three weeks saved me from being projected to the 
other end of the room. Latitude at noon, 37° 57' 
south ; longitude, 60° 50' east. 

September 27 

Much colder this morning, with a strong wind from 
south-southwest, and a fine rain blowing in hori- 
zontal lines across the decks. This is unusual, as 
most of our southerly winds have brought us a clear 
sky, though blowing a gale. As the day wore on 
the wind shifted, and at noon it was at south, blowing 

198 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

up fresh, while at four in the afternoon the yards 
were braced up, and the ship, close-hauled, was lying 
over a good deal, with the wind at south-southeast. 

I have often read of the careless handling of fire- 
arms during which the unexpected happens, but I 
didn't think that I'd ever come as near being a mur- 
derer as I did to-day. It happened in the following 
manner : About three this afternoon the rain ceased 
and, the weather clearing up a bit, we brought some 
empty bottles on deck and began popping away at 
them with the Smith & Wesson ; but after half an 
hour's amusement we concluded it was too cold on 
deck and my wife went below, leaving me on the 
poop with the mate. I took up the rag I used for 
cleaning the pistol and was about to disconnect the 
barrel from the stock, when I thought I might as 
well snap the trigger a few times, just to make sure 
there was not a stray cartridge in it. 'Twas simply a 
case of " didn't know 'twas loaded." There was a 
cartridge in the cylinder. And as I continued to 
snap the hammer the revolver went off, and the ball, 
whizzing by the helmsman, buried itself in the wheel- 
box after passing through his oil-skins, which he had 
just taken off and placed on the grating by the 
wheel. The bullet did not miss him by more than a 
foot, and had it hit him it would have most likely 
killed him, there being no one on board fit to probe 
for it. But yet, so little do sailors think of an escape, 
however narrow, or a danger once past, that John Sim- 
mons, the man who was steering, allowed his face to 
relax in a faint smile as he glanced at me, and then 
glued his eyes to the compass-card again, without 

199 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ever changing color. Indeed, he didn't want to 
accept the new oil-skins that I felt in duty bound to 
present him with, saying that he could patch up the 
holes the bullet made in its progress through the old 
ones ; but as the coat had been chucked down in a 
heap, the bullet had perforated it in half a dozen 
places. Simmons is, next to Carson, the best seaman 
in the ship ; indeed, in a tight place I believe Simmons 
would be a better man and a much steadier one. He 
shipped as boson in the ship " Lydgate" that sailed 
from New York a week or two before we did, but with 
several other men he deserted her, refusing to go to 
sea in a ship whose cargo was stowed as hers was ; 
so they jumped overboard one night and swam 
ashore at Staten Island, Simmons signing for Calcutta 
in the " Mandalore" immediately afterward. Latitude 
at noon, 37° 40' south ; longitude, 64° 48' east. 

September 28 

If the present indications amount to anything we 
will not be favored with a glimpse of the solar eclipse 
to-morrow. After a night of tremendous rolling the 
wind came strong out of the northwest this morning, 
bringing with it a lot of flying scud that would 
very effectually obliterate the celestial phenomenon. 
By noon-time all the sky-sails and royals had been 
stowed, and at one the fore and mizzentop-gallants 
were furled, the skipper hanging on as usual to his 
maintop-gallant, this sail, as the saying goes, marking 
the difference between a strong breeze and a gale of 
wind. That is, if the maintop-gallant can be lugged, 
it is not a gale to a sailor. 

200 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

A heavy sea ran all day and broke aboard at 
internals with a booming crash that sent shivers 
through the " Mandalore's" stout iron sides, I pro- 
posed to my wife that we await our opportunity and 
run up forward into the forecastle-head and watch the 
great seas coming up astern. She wouldn't have it 
at first ; but at last I persuaded her, and, watching our 
chance in a smooth, we fled along the main-deck 
and reached the short iron ladder that leads to the 
forecastle-head none too soon, for my wife had just 
put her foot on the third round, when a big fellow 
came roaring over the rail, the fore-hatch and every- 
thing else on deck disappearing for fully half a minute. 
My wife was very much inclined to cry with fear; 
but when I showed her that the forecastle-head was 
perfectly dry and safe, she recovered ; and, going as 
far forward as we could, we sat down, one on each 
side of the heel of the great bowsprit, and made our- 
selves comfortable. 

The spectacle, looking aft, was grand beyond 
words. From where we were the seas looked gi- 
gantic, and when we sank into the hollow between 
two they seemed and probably were as high as the 
cross-jack yard. Whenever a big one overhauled 
us, it looked as though it were going to break on 
the stern and sweep everything before it; but the 
good old " Mandalore" rose to them with a buoyant 
heave of her quarters, and down would go the bows 
till it seemed as though we must be washed off the 
forecastle-head ; then the stern would settle and the 
whole forward part of the ship would rise clear out 
of the water, the sea at that moment boiling over 

201 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the weather rail. Yet nothing more than a dash of 
spray ever reached us, and we sat there in perfect 
safety for half an hour watching the magnificent 
spectacle; and as there were no head-sails set, no 
slatting of canvas prevented our thorough enjoyment 
of the scene. The wind out of the foresail, though, 
was enough to blow my wife over the side unless we 
used every caution, and half an hour in our position 
satisfied us ; and again choosing our time we got aft 
without a drenching, though we had to jump on the 
main-hatch to escape a spiteful little sea that very 
unexpectedly fell on board. Latitude, 37° 33' south ; 
longitude, 67° east. 

September 29 

When a man anticipates with joyful expectations a 
certain event that is about to transpire, he is often 
most miserably disappointed. This is the case with 
us this afternoon. We have been looking forward to 
what we supposed would be a total eclipse of the 
sun for two weeks or more ; and, believing that we 
were going to witness something startling, we were 
filled with subdued excitement at breakfast-time and 
awaited with ill-concealed impatience the unusual 
phenomenon about to be disclosed to us. Even 
the men exhibited some degree of interest, and indeed 
it seems to me that the wildest savages could not 
but be impressed when the light of day is suddenly 
obliterated and darkness takes the place of the noon- 
day glare. 

As I said before, we thought we were going to 
witness a total eclipse, and as soon as we had finished 

202 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

our matutinal repast each of us repaired to the poop 
with sundry squares of colored glass ; the skipper 
having removed the shade-glasses from an old sex- 
tant and distributed them among us, not forgetting a 
piece for the mate, who had the watch. I asked the 
second mate if he weren't going to stay up and see 
the eclipse ; his answer was characteristic : " To 

h with it ; I've seen too many." 

Sure enough, at 9.30 the shadow was observed 
eating its way into the sun's disk, though very slowly. 
I went forward to the forecastle-head so as to get a 
better view, as the lee side of the mizzentop-gallant 
obstructed the range of vision. So very slowly, how- 
ever, did the shadow encroach upon the orb that I 
lost patience after sitting for three-quarters of an 
hour with a piece of red glass glued to my eye, and 
I noticed at the same time that if the shadow con- 
tinued on its present course it would not completely 
obscure the sun's disk. So I went aft and finally 
below, where I commenced my navigation work. 
Becoming absorbed in it, to my utter amazement 
when I went on deck again I found that the eclipse 
was nearly over, and the dark shadow just visible on 
the edge of the lower limb of the sun. We had 
been deceived ; for, far from being a total eclipse, the 
light was at no time reduced to half its intensity, 
while the shadow was not more than an hour and a 
half crossing the sun, instead of several hours, as we 
understood from the almanacs. The reason was 
very simple : the eclipse was to be central in 86° east 
and 34° south ; and while I was aware of this, I was 
ignorant enough of astronomy to believe that, as we 

203 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

were within nine hundred miles of the centre, we 
would see the eclipse in its totality. As for the 
day, it was perfect, a light breeze blowing from 
west-southwest. The few clouds visible were so 
small and diaphanous that they in no way interfered 
with the vision. Latitude at noon, 36° 16' south; 
longitude, 71° 15' east. 

Sunday, September 30 

To-day thirteen weeks ago we started on our 
voyage; so that we have been a little more than 
three months out, and forty days more will hardly 
take us in. We took the first true north wind that 
we have had in these southern latitudes this morning, 
and at noon there was every indication of a blow. 
But the fickle wind backed before long to west-south- 
west, and blew a light breeze from that favorable 
quarter. 

Dan, the English boy, met with a curious and 
painful accident this forenoon. He was carrying the 
kid of beef from the galley to the forecastle, for the 
men's dinner, when in some manner he slipped and 
fell. His first thought was for the beef, for he'd have 
been beaten to a mummy if anything had happened 
to the men's dinner. Therefore, instead of saving 
himself, his chin struck the deck with a crack that 
might have been heard on the poop, and his upper 
teeth, which are very prominent, were driven through 
his lower lip and actually protruded through the 
flesh. He howled dismally and ran aft to the skip- 
per, who brought his surgical skill into play and put 
four stitches in the wound. In spite of all, though, 

204 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

his lip was swollen and inflamed to a shocking degree 
in six hours, and for many days he will be deprived 
of his favorite pastime of gorging himself with food. 
The mate says that in all his sea-going experience 
he never saw man or boy who could eat as much 
as Dan. He often stows away an entire loaf of soft 
bread and a very large tin pannikin of burgoo for 
breakfast, besides as much coffee as he can lay his 
hands on. Let it not be supposed that forecastle- 
bread is similar to that so temptingly displayed in 
our bakery windows. Far from it. Soft bread at 
sea is of the substance and weight of white lead, 
though not quite so digestible ; and as sour yeast is 
used in its manufacture, it would be difficult to con- 
ceive of anything edible more forbidding and repel- 
lent. Mr. Ryan says that before he saw Dan he 
never came across a sailor who could eat more than 
two slices of it an inch thick at one time ; and yet 
this youth eats it actually by the loaf. He will cer- 
tainly die young of apoplexy ; for after each meal 
his face seems to puff up, and he is then the flabbiest- 
looking individual I ever saw. What a difference 
there is in Mike, the other boy ! Always neat and 
clean ; he is in splendid physical condition, as evi- 
denced by the sparring exhibitions between the two 
nearly every evening. About six o'clock, the car- 
penter and cook, the sail-makers, boson, and one of 
the mates form a ring around the two 'prentices, near 
the main-hatch ; and, putting on some boxing-gloves 
of rude but serviceable design, the boys go at it like 
gladiators. In less than a minute the difference in 
the methods of the two becomes apparent; Dan's 

205 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

arms begin to revolve like a windmill-pump, he loses 
his temper, butts with his head, and his face grows as 
red as blood, while he pants and blows like a por- 
poise, Mike, on the other hand, is as cool at the end 
as he was in the beginning, stops every one of Dan's 
wild passes, hits him where he pleases, and at last, 
with a tap on the nose, down goes the noble Briton 
on his knees, swearing like a pirate and blind with 
rage. Here the spectators step in and lay hold of 
Dan, who sometimes so far loses his temper as to 
catch up a belaying-pin and advance on the hardy 
Norwegian with blood in his eye as well as on his 
nose. In five minutes, though, he quiets down, and 
then begins his eternal skylarking with the mate. In 
my opinion Mr. Ryan is altogether too free with this 
youth, for no good ever follows the joking of officers 
and men aboard ship. 

During the last twenty-four hours we made less 
than seventy-five miles, a light breeze blowing from 
west-southwest. Latitude at noon, 35° 30' south; 
longitude 72° 30' east, 

October 1 

If the " Mandalore" were clean and free from the 
mass of barnacles on her bottom, this would be our 
last month at sea ; but I feel sure that the voyage 
will last ten days or so into November, — rather to our 
advantage than otherwise, as, the longer the voyage, 
the cooler the weather will be in India, the so-called 
cold season beginning about November i. 

The harness-casks were cleaned out to-day for the 
first time since we began running our easting down, 

206 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

— ^an occasion always dreaded by us. The harness- 
casks are large square boxes into which the salt meat 
is dumped when a fresh barrel has been broken out of 
the lazarette and broached. The harness-casks on 
the " Mandalore" are made of teak, beautifully var- 
nished, and lined with big slabs of slate, one single 
piece forming each a side and one on the bottom. 
But if the casks are pleasing to the eye they are 
most horribly offensive to the nose ; for, so vile an 
odor is diffused throughout the ship when one is 
opened even for a moment, that a bone-boiling es- 
tablishment would have to take a back seat in the 
presence of a ship's harness-cask. 

A few minutes before the casks are opened warn- 
ing is given to us, and we close the ports and com- 
panioa-way so as to exclude as much as we can of 
the terrible smell. I never had sufficient strength of 
will to witness the cleansing operation, but it is done 
by removing the pieces of old, decayed meat, v/ith 
as much of the brine as can be conveniently baled 
out ; then, when the process has been performed to 
the satisfaction of the mate, the fresh barrel of meat 
is rolled over to the cask, the head stove, and two 
men with stout iron hooks lift the hideous, ragged 
chunks of beef or pork, as the case may be, into the 
cask, rejecting those pieces that are the most tainted. 
Sometimes half a barrel of meat has to be thrown 
over the side ; indeed, we had to heave seventy or 
eighty pounds of pork overboard to-day. This 
generally smells much worse than the beef; and as 
the great, dripping, reeking hunks of fat are lifted 
out of the barrel, I cannot but marvel how the men 

207 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

can bring themselves to eat it. No wonder lime- 
juice plays so important a part in the life of the man 
before the mast. This sort of food accounts, per- 
haps, for the small appetites of sailors as a class ; for, 
contrary to general opinion, they eat but little. 

Poor Bang, the skipper's setter, is the most pitiable 
object I ever laid my eyes on. Poor fellow; he was 
sick enough in the calm weather, during the first part 
of the voyage ; but ever since we ran into the heavy 
seas of the South Atlantic, he has been able to drag 
himself along the deck only a few feet at a time ; and 
he is so wonderfully emaciated that we all wonder 
how his bones hang together. The half-starved curs 
of the East Side would seem comfortably off compared 
with Bang, who has made no pretence of eating any- 
thing at all for several days. When he does try to 
eat anything, even in the smallest quantity, he can- 
not keep it down. The good old skipper has often 
showed what a kind heart he has by turning out at 
night in heavy weather, when he heard Bang howling 
in his kennel on the poop, and giving him something 
that he thought would ease his pain. I do not see 
how the dog can last twenty-four hours longer. 

We have had a nice breeze from northwest all day, 
and we have been slipping along at eight knots or so. 
Latitude, 35° 7' south; longitude, 'j^^ east. 

October 2 

To-day is decidedly milder. It is necessary yet to 
wear the heaviest clothes, but the biting quality has 
disappeared from the air, and it is now possible to 
sit down on deck with some little degree of comfort. 

208 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

A noteworthy fact is that we are no longer followed 
by sea-birds, that a week ago hovered about us by 
the score in four varieties : albatrosses, gunies, Cape 
pigeons, and a slate-colored bird as big as a king- 
fisher. Another significant fact is that the long 
swell that rolled incessantly out of the southwest 
has been left astern, and now we are almost without 
motion. At noon the lee braces were manned and 
the skipper hauled the ship to, the course given to 
the man who relieved the wheel being northeast by 
north half north (north by east true), and we are 
at length heading for the Bay of Bengal. The 
cabin-fire died out this morning, and we are happy 
to have seen the last of it. This is different from 
putting the fires out in one's house in the spring, 
for one j:annot tell when it may be necessary to start 
them up again for a cool snap. But when once the 
ship's head has been turned to the equator, every 
day is certain to bring a higher temperature. The 
little grate full of glowing coals was a source of much 
joy and comfort to us during the cold weather ; but 
I fear that we are ungrateful enough to rejoice that 
we can henceforth dispense with artificial heat. 

I had hoped that we would have sighted Amster- 
dam Island, and perhaps called there for potatoes ; 
our supply of which — horribile dictu — gave out two 
days ago. But we passed to the northward of 
Amsterdam and its neighbor, St. Paul, and our last 
opportunity of replenishing our stock of fresh vege- 
tables has passed. The two islands are not sixty 
miles apart, and yet are totally different in character, 
St. Paul being as barren and rugged as Amsterdam 
14 209 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

is fruitful and green. Immense numbers of sea-fowl 
inhabit St. Paul, as might be supposed ; and a great 
many seals used to be and probably still are taken 
in the neighboring waters. The islands are sup- 
posed to have been discovered by Van Dieman in 
the seventeenth century, and they lie almost in the 
track of steamers bound from Cape Town to Ade- 
laide. 

Speaking of them reminds me of a strange account 
I read of, about the Crozets, a group of islands lying 
in 46° south and 50° east. A ship bound to Aus- 
tralia foundered near the Crozets, the crew reaching 
those islands in the boats. The first day after leaving 
the ship they caught an albatross, and, little dream- 
ing that any good would result from the action, they 
scratched on a piece of copper words to the effect 
that their ship had foundered, and that they were 
steering for the Crozets. This they secured to the 
bird's neck and turned him adrift. 

In the course of two days the survivors reached 
the islands and proceeded to make themselves as 
comfortable as the circumstances would permit; and 
they were exceedingly surprised, two or three weeks 
afterwards, to see an English man-of-war off" the 
islands, and in a short time they were transferred to 
her and landed at Hobart Town, Tasmania. It ap- 
pears that the albatross, a very short time after the 
men set it adrift, was found dead on the beach near 
King George's Sound, West Austraha, by a man 
who caught sight of the bit of copper, and, reading 
the inscription on it, notified the government. A 
war-vessel was at once ordered to the Crozets to 

210 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

take the men off, and in a little while the ship- 
wrecked mariners found themselves transferred un- 
expectedly to civilization, instead of dragging out 
their lives on a desert island in the Southern Ocean. 
This account I am told is perfectly true, and can be 
verified by application to the Australian government. 
Latitude at noon, 32° 58' south; longitude, 78° 35' 
east. 

October 3 

A calm ! a flat calm ! ! So calm that the sea re- 
flects every spar and sail like a sheet of shining 
metal. The sun, too, has grown very perceptibly 
warmer. To-day the sea was almost without motion, 
and it was only at intervals of fifteen minutes or so 
that a slow, deep heave would roll up from the south- 
ward, followed by a rattling of blocks and slatting 
of canvas. Then would ensue a period of absolute 
rest, very grateful after the violent motions of the 
past month. The ocean has returned to its old 
Prussian-blue color, transparent as air, instead of the 
greenish tint that prevailed farther south ; so that, if 
we had not known to the contrary, we should have 
supposed for three weeks, by the color of the water, 
that we were on soundings. Last night, so still was 
everything that the words spoken by one of the 
watch in a low tone at the break of the forecastle 
were plainly audible on the poop ; while heavy breath- 
ing at the forward side of the mizzen- hatch suggested 
the possibility of Dan's having succumbed to the 
somnolent influences ; investigation proved the truth 
of the supposition, and the hapless youth was rudely 

211 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

awakened by the shock resulting from the application 
of the end of the starboard maintop-gallant-brace, 
adroitly wielded by the lusty arm of the mate, who 
foretold the horrible punishments that awaited Dan 
should he ever be found guilty a second time of 
sleeping on watch. 

Old John, the poor, feeble foremast hand, has 
tried of late to bear up and take part in the various 
duties assigned to the men, and succeeded up to a 
couple of days ago, when his strength failed and he 
had to knock off work. Ever since he has been 
growing worse, in spite of Captain Kingdon's efforts 
to relieve him, and he is now in the ship's hospital, 
a spare room in the midship-house. He has the 
appearance of a death's head, though he receives no 
kind word or look from any one, proving that the 
most miserable being in the world is a sick sailor. 
What little food he can eat is shoved in to him 
through a port-hole by the steward, who curses him 
for not being quicker in taking the pannikin given 
him. I feel very sorry for the old man, who is better 
fitted for an inmate of a sailors' hospital than a sea- 
man on a blue waterman. 

The skipper imparted to us to-day the cheerful in- 
formation that we will cross the Bay of Bengal at 
one of the worst seasons of the year; that is, the 
first part of November. At that period the mon- 
soon changes from southwest to northeast, and it is 
then and also in May that the terrible cyclones sweep 
across the northern part of the Indian Ocean and its 
adjacent coasts, devastating the land and often blot- 
ting out of existence the largest and finest ships. In 

212 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

May the worst hurricanes occur, showing that the 
atmospheric disturbances are more severe at the end 
of the northeast monsoon. Latitude at noon, 31° 58' 
south ; longitude, 78° 43' east. 

October 4 

We were comforted this morning with a nice little 
breeze that came dancing along out of the north ; 
and though it jammed us on the wind and headed us 
off toward Australia, no murmurs were heard fore or 
aft about the weather, after yesterday's calm. 

I am almost certain that we're going to have 
trouble with the men before we get in. Carson in 
particular is behaving in a very insolent manner, 
swaggering about the decks and talking in a very 
loud voice in the forecastle. He and his pal, the 
Finn, are together constantly now, which bodes no 
good. The rest of the men seem to be in pretty 
fair shape, but how long they will remain so we can- 
not tell ; a sea-lawyer like Carson or the musician 
with the master's ticket can brew trouble in a very 
few days. As far as I can ascertain, the food will be 
the cause of any row that we may have ; the steward, 
a double-faced, sneaking rascal, who licks the skip- 
per's boots to keep in his good graces, serves out 
the worst stuff he can lay his hands on to the cook, 
in the hope that when we reach port the captain will 
reward him for having saved the owners money. 
The skipper, though, having made a voyage or two 
before this, has seen quite through this little ruse, and 
is only awaiting a fit opportunity to administer what 
novelists call " a stinging rebuke." 

213 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

To-day we sighted a vessel. That is, by the aid 
of a pair of glasses we saw a vessel's topmasts above 
the horizon in the southwest. One of the men at 
work on the upper maintop-sail-yard saw her first ; 
and, although barely visible from the deck with the 
unaided eye, the glasses showed her to be a steamer 
with four masts, square-rigged on the fore and main ; 
she was probably thirty-five miles away. This was 
the first vessel we have sighted for forty-seven days, 
during which time we sailed more than six thousand 
miles. We hope to take the southeast Trades to- 
morrow or the next day, from which I gather that 
the Trades in the Indian Ocean blow farther south 
than in the Atlantic, where we lost them near the 
twenty-fifth parallel. Latitude at noon, 30° 36' south ; 
longitude, 79° 22' east. 

October 5 

As yet there are no indications of the Trades. 
We have a light northwesterly wind, and for the past 
twenty-four hours we made good a north-northeast 
course. The weather is charming and growing quite 
warm again, making it pleasant to sit on deck once 
more. 

I read to-day, in a nautical magazine on board, of 
a strange and grewsome derelict discovered not long 
ago off the island of Prince Edward, one thousand 
miles southeast of the Cape of Good Hope. Various 
pieces of wreckage, together with dead bodies most 
shockingly mutilated, had drifted ashore there, the 
fact being reported to a passing vessel. A couple of 
days later the ship discovered the cause of the disas- 

214 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ter by falling in with a burning ship. Her lower 
hold, it was discovered, was filled with coal and 
petroleum, and her 'tween decks had contained emi- 
grants bound, it is thought, from Russia to Brazil. 
The cargo had caught fire, generating gases which, it 
is supposed, suffocated the unfortunate people ; and 
when the conflagration had reached a certain limit, 
explosions occurred, rending with terrible force the 
bodies of the hapless victims. These ghastly remains 
were then carried along by a current that sets by 
Prince Edward Island, and, being cast up on the 
shore, spread consternation among the handful of 
people whose lot it is to dwell on this speck of land. 
I thought, when I had finished the article, that it was 
the most curious and out-of-the-ordinary disaster I 
had ever heard of, and reminded me very forcibly of 
Clark Russell ; indeed, were he to hear all the cir- 
cumstances, I am sure he could weave an exciting 
romance about this remarkable case. 

I wish I were well versed in the question of free 
ships versus home-built ships, that has so long agi- 
tated the maritime population of the United States. 
Captain Kingdon and I had a conversation on the 
subject last night; but I found that I was so very 
ignorant on the subject that I had to let him do the 
talking. He argued rather on the free-ship side, 
though he expressed no decided opinion. As the 
law stands now in the States, no foreign vessel can ob- 
tain American registry unless, after having been pur- 
chased, two-thirds of her value have been expended 
in making alterations or repairs. An example of the 
law is the case of the splendid British steel shipen- 

215 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

tine " Kenilworth." She was built a very few years 
ago on the Clyde, if I mistake not, and her builders 
were given carte-blanche to construct what was in- 
tended to be and what probably was the finest sailing- 
vessel under the English flag. Not long after she 
had been in commission she went to the northwest 
coast of America, where she caught fire and was 
partially destroyed before the fire could be extin- 
guished. She was subsequently bought by Arthur 
Sewall & Co., of Bath, Maine, who spent the requisite 
amount of money on her in repairs, obtained an 
American registry for her, and now the " Kenilworth" 
is one of the veiy best sailing-ships under the Stars 
and Stripes. She is handsomely finished below, 
indeed remarkably so ; and actually has a white en- 
amelled-iron bath-tub for the men under the fore- 
castle-head. 

The " Henry B. Hyde," one of the largest three- 
masted sailing-vessels afloat (about two thousand 
five hundred tons net), was formerly considered about 
the smartest of our ships, until the " Kenilworth" 
came along and was put in the same trade, to San 
Francisco out of New York. The two ships have 
met several times, but neither seems to have gained 
a decided advantage, though either of the skippers 
would probably tell you that he outsailed the other 
two to one "whenever he had a breeze of wind." 
This seems to be the favorite excuse among deep- 
water sailors as well as yachtsmen. How often have 
I heard friends of mine say, *' Oh yes, so and so's 
boat is a little faster in light airs, but just give me a 
breeze of wind and you'll see !" I have never yet 

216 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

met a yachtsman whose boat was not a flyer in a 
strong breeze. 

Another English vessel to change flags was the 
steamer " Persian Monarch," that was bought by 
Charles R. Flint & Co. and called the " May FHnt." 
She is a very large vessel, of some three thousand 
net tons I believe, although, having been a steamer, 
she is very narrow, and must, I should think, be very 
wet in bad weather. To the best of my knowledge 
she is the only straight-stemmed sailing-ship in 
existence. Latitude at noon, 28° 40' south ; longi- 
tude, 81° 12' east. 

October 6 

And still no Trades. The weather is so superb, 
though; that I never think about the speed of the 
ship; indeed, throughout the voyage it has been a 
matter of absolute indifference to me, except that I 
should like to have covered three hundred or more 
miles in one day, so that I could say that we in a 
sailing-vessel had logged a greater number of miles 
in one twenty-four hours than most of our coasting 
steamers could. It is true that the Morgan boats to 
New Orleans make a good deal better time than 
thirteen knots an hour, and there are some of the 
Plant steamers that make fast time; but the great 
majority of first-class coasting steamers do not make 
three hundred miles a day. 

As I said before, the weather is perfect, and last 
night was simply glorious in the transcendent beauty 
of the heavens. Never a cloud was visible from 
horizon to zenith, and it was just such a night as 

217 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

poets love to sing of, about the " silver crescent of 
the moon" and the " flaming stars of the Southern- 
Cross." The first is all right, but the stars of the 
Cross do not flame because they are not bright 
enough, not being of so great magnitude as our 
Great Bear, or anywhere near it. For all that, 
though, it would be difficult to overestimate the 
beauty of these evenings ; for the moon is not yet 
old enough to dim the lustre of the stars, and she 
adds immeasurably to the loveliness of the scene 
when she sets, — a silver feather in the western sky. 

Some of the stars glitter with a splendid effulgence, 
Sirius, of course, taking precedence and Aldebaran 
shining with his pecuhar red light. 

Our wind has been light from west-northwest, 
though it has allowed us to lay our course and we 
have been making fairly good progress. 

I think that one of the most remarkable circum- 
stances of the voyage is the absence of the smell of 
kerosene-oil ; I expected that after we had been at 
sea a month or so, during warm weather at least, a 
slight odor would be present continually in the cabin. 
But, on the contrary, not the least smell of petroleum 
has been perceptible in any part of the ship. Even 
when I put my head down one of the ventilators on 
the poop, I could detect nothing but the clean, fresh 
smell of the pine-wood cases that the tin cans of oil 
are covered with ; and the same result was noticed 
after an investigation of the uptakes near the main- 
and mizzen-masts. 

I fear that old John in the hospital is getting no 
better ; he is dreadfully weak and cannot stand with- 

218 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

out holding on to something. Indeed, he lies in his 
bunk all day and only rouses himself when the stew- 
ard comes to pass in his bread and tea to him through 
the port. When we are near the line, a fortnight 
from now, I do not see how he'll be able to stand 
the heat. Latitude, 27° 31' south; longitude, 81° 
46' east. 

Sunday, October 7 

We have reason to believe that we have taken the 
southeast Trades. Immediately after coming on 
deck to-day after dinner, we noticed a dark-blue line 
approaching us over the oil-like surface of the sea 
from the southward, or right astern. So we braced 
the yards in for it and had the satisfaction of seeing 
the breeze increase instead of decrease, and soon it 
was patent to every one that it was the trade-wind, 
and not a mere cat's paw, as we feared it might prove 
to be. How joyously the men sung out as they 
braced the yards around, throwing their weight into 
their work with a hearty heave pleasant to see ! The 
little mate was as busy as the devil in a gale of wind, 
tailing on to the maintop-sail-braces one moment, 
only to jump onto the poop the next and nearly pull 
his heart out swaying up the mizzen-sky-sail-yard, 
and all the while singing out, " Well, the fore-royal ; 
well, the main-royal; well, the mizzentop-gallant," 
and other similar orders to the men, the old skipper 
pacing the poop with a happy smile, as he glanced 
astern now and then at the fast-roughening water. 

We have been fourteen weeks at sea to-day, and 
I think I can truthfully say that there are but few 

219 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

people who would have enjoyed every minute of the 
voyage as my wife and I have. This morning was 
really hot before the wind came, and it was out of 
the question to sit on the poop without the awning. 
During a calm spell such as we had this forenoon, it 
is a never-ending source of amusement to me to 
hang over the side and gaze down into the clear, 
deep-blue ocean, following the sun's rays through 
fathom after fathom of absolutely transparent water, 
until it almost seems as though my sight could pene- 
trate to the bottom, two thousand five hundred 
fathoms below, so tranquil and beautiful is this deep- 
sea water. No wonder that sailors cast away in an 
open boat often cannot resist drinking it, for a more 
enticing-looking fluid I never saw. 

The deepest part of the entire Indian Ocean lies 
between Java and northwestern Australia, where 
soundings of three thousand fathoms have been 
made ; while all that part around the islands of St. 
Paul and Amsterdam is much shoaler, being of a 
depth of only one thousand fathoms ; indeed, similar 
soundings have been taken all over that part of the 
ocean lying south of the thirty-fifth parallel. The 
water shoals to the depth of one thousand fathoms 
also to the northwestward of Madagascar and south- 
west of the Indian Peninsula, around the Maldives 
and Laccadives; but throughout the remainder of 
the great Indian Ocean the sea is very deep, averag- 
ing two thousand five hundred fathoms right up to 
the partially submerged Malayo-Australian continent. 
The bottom of that part of the sea adjacent to the 
islands of Borneo, Java, Celebes, the Moluccas, and 

220 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the Philippines is an elevated plateau rising abruptly 
from the profound depths of the surrounding ocean, 
the water over an immense area being not more than 
fifty fathoms deep, and, of course, filled with shoals 
and coral ledges; so that when ships are bound 
around the Cape to China and Japan during the 
northeast monsoon, they sail clear around Australia 
rather than beat up through the Straits of Sunda and 
China Sea, the latter to the northwestward of Borneo 
presenting a perfect nest of shoals and reefs. Lati- 
tude at noon, 26° 47' south; longitude, 82° 12' east. 

October 8 

A bright, fresh morning, with a little more wind 
than we had last night, though the Trades are yet 
very light, and we didn't make more than a degree 
and a half of northing yesterday. It is reasonable 
to suppose that when we get a little farther north we 
will make one hundred and eighty miles a day, even 
in our foul state. 

Our bill of fare is somewhat reduced owing to the 
potatoes and onions having given out; the former 
particularly we miss tremendously, and people until 
they go to sea have no idea how really good pota- 
toes are. We have plenty of tinned vegetables, and 
the last barrel of beef we opened was particularly 
good ; so that we have at least some sort of substi- 
tute for the fresh pork, which is, of course, all gone. 
If we could only catch some large fish, it would 
make an excellent addition to our larder ; flying-fish 
are commencing to appear again, and my wife often 
has a couple for breakfast, but as they don't come 

221 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

aboard in any great number, and are no larger than 
a smelt, I haven't tasted any yet. It is really aston- 
ishing, though, how little one feels the absence of 
fresh food at sea, and it seems as though I could go 
on in this manner indefinitely ; though my wife, I 
think, would give a good deal for some fresh fruit 
and vegetables. 

In navigation I am now quite expert and can easily 
and quickly work nearly any problem in Ainsley or 
Norie, with the exception of lunars and longitude by 
the stars. Mr. Ryan has also been teaching me 
marline-spike seamanship and the masting and rig- 
ging of ships, and by the time we reach port I ought 
to have a fairly thorough knowledge of the duties 
of a sailor. It has made me very anxious to start 
on a deep-water voyage in a fifty-ton yawl, ketch, or 
schooner, handling and navigating the boat myself. 
Plenty of our yachtsmen are quite capable of doing 
all their own sailing themselves ; but because they 
have a sailing-master who knows more than they do, 
they relegate the working of the vessel to him when- 
ever they enter a harbor, or there is any reefing to 
be done, often because of lack of confidence in them- 
selves. It must be a delightful sensation to be at sea 
in one's own boat and absolutely in command of her, 
supreme in all matters of navigation, seamanship, 
and the setting and stowing of canvas, without having 
to say, " Mr. So and So, don't you think you'd better 
turn in a reef in the main-sail ?" and having the 
sailing-master only half agree with you and end by 
continuing to carry the whole main-sail. Latitude 
at noon, 25° 34' south; longitude, 83° 40' east. 

222 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

October 9 

We have been just one hundred days at sea; and 
when I look back upon those many weeks, it does 
not seem more than a month since Sandy Hook 
Hght-ship sank into the sea and the highlands of 
Navesink disappeared behind the horizon. 

We had strong Trades all day, but the wind has 
been east-southeast, about abeam, and with so foul a 
ship we did not do more than seven knots at any 
time. In the morning we crossed the Tropic of 
Capricorn, and have therefore once more entered the 
South Tropic Zone. 

As a result of the mate's familiarity with Dan, 
I witnessed a remarkable spectacle this forenoon. 
Some of the men were doing odd jobs about the 
deck, when Mr. Ryan ordered Dan aloft to do some 
work on the lower mizzentop-sail-yard. Instead of 
jumping into the rigging at once, he continued some 
bit of skylarking with the steward near the cabin- 
door. So the mate picked up a rope's end with 
which to emphasize his order, when, to the amaze- 
ment of everybody who was looking on, Dan, who it 
seems was not in a particularly gentle mood, skipped 
over to the rail, whipped out an iron belaying-pin, 
danced back in a rage to the astonished mate, and, 
lifting the heavy pin above his head, he shook it at 
Mr. Ryan, yelling at him in a voice quite thick with 

passion, " Now, by G , you come for me." I think 

we were still more astonished when the mate, looking 
Dan in the face for a few minutes, or moments, rather, 
dropped the rope without a word, passed over to the 
lee side, and strolled forward. It was a complete 

223 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

victory for Dan, I don't know that I ever felt my 
blood boil as it did then ; and if I had been the mate 
I think I should have stepped over to the midship- 
house, in the after end of which was a row of capstan- 
bars, and I'd have taken the belaying-pin away from 
that youth and cracked his head for him so that he'd 
have jumped at the next order as though electrified. 
No one knew better than Dan, though, how rigidly 
the English law protects apprentices at sea ; but in 
spite of it, and the fact that the mate himself was 
partly to blame, before I would let the whole watch 
have the laugh on me, I'd have beaten the dirty little 
English Jew to a mummy, even though I were fined 
three months' wages in Calcutta. What must the 
men think of the discipline on board, when a boy 
threatens the first officer with a heavy weapon, and 
that officer, instead of making the most of this ex- 
cellent opportunity for an exhibition of his authority, 
slinks away forward and allows the boy to swing 
himself leisurely into the shrouds and crawl aloft, 
conscious that he has gained an open victory over 
the chief mate ? I wish Captain Kingdon had seen 
the affair; law or no law, Dan would never have 
forgotten the next ten minutes. Most of the watch 
were in the mizzen-rigging at the time, putting chaf- 
ing gear on the backstays, and I can see their grin- 
ning faces now, as they leered down at the scene 
below them, chuckling away at the defeat of the 
mate, and mentally sizing up how far they can go 
with Mr. Ryan and the skipper without laying them- 
selves open to mutiny. I have an idea that Carson 
had something to do with the affair, and, as soon as 

224 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

he hears of Dan's victory, he is sure to be more 
insolent and defiant than ever. Latitude, 23° i' 
south; longitude, 83° 24' east. 

October 10 

Had fresh to strong Trades during the past twenty- 
four hours, but, being well to the eastward, we did 
not slip along as we ought to have. We made 
nearly three degrees of latitude, though, and at mid- 
day found ourselves close to the twentieth parallel. 

A strong head-sea from northeast set in during 
the night, and, of course, this stops her considerably. 
I have always wanted to see the old " Mandalore" 
with a head-sea and beam-wind, and I must say she 
presents a splendid appearance as she rises to the 
crest jd{ some of the larger seas and poises for an 
instant, with the weather leeches of the mizzen-royal 
and sky-sail just lifting, before she takes the down- 
ward plunge into the valley below. She would make 
a fine subject for a marine artist, though I doubt if 
any one could infuse into a painting the life and 
vitality of the scene. This is the first severe pitch- 
ing we have done since we left, as all the heavy seas 
we have hitherto experienced have come from astern; 
so that this fore-and-aft motion is a novel change 
from the rolling and heaving in the Southern Ocean. 

There is only one reason that I have for wishing 
to reach port, and that is to hear the result of the 
racing of the cup-defender "Vigilant" against the 
English cutters " Britannia," " Satanita," and " Val- 
kyrie II." in their home waters. In a fair race where 
the tides and currents do not demand the presence 
15 225 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

on board of a man born and bred in the place, and 
if the other boats do not pocket her, " Vigilant" will, 
I am certain, render a splendid account of herself. I 
hope she will keep out of the Thames matches, for 
that river is a perfect nest of currents and eddies, 
which make it bad enough for a native to successfully 
handle a yacht in those waters ; while racing on the 
Clyde is nearly as bad, for tremendous squalls come 
tearing down from the hills, making good racing 
there almost as impossible as in the tide-holes of the 
Thames. 

It is difficult for merchant skippers to understand 
what a large, well-found yacht is like, and they are 
apt to sneer at them, and particularly at yacht- 
owners ; nor can I blame them for the latter, when I 
think of a man who has a splendid, big, sea-going 
schooner yacht, who sends her to Southampton or 
Cowes, while he follows in the " Majestic" or 
" Lucania." 

What is more remarkable, though, is to hear mer- 
chant masters and mates sneer and deride navy men, 
as I have heard on several occasions. One would 
think that it would be just the other way, and that the 
navy would look down on the merchant service. But 
I have often heard skippers and mates too say : " Navy 
men, what do they know about the sea ? What can 
they be expected to know, when three-fourths of their 
lives are passed in a safe harbor where they are sta- 
tioned, or that they run for when it blows a capful 
of wind ? All they have to do is to walk the poop- 
or quarter-deck rigged out in white duck or blue 
serge and receive visitors; while we poor devils 

226 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

have to take the ocean as it comes, calm or hurri- 
cane, heat or cold ; there is no escape from it ; while 
those fellows in gold lace and brass buttons talk 
about cyclones and great circles, when half of 'em 
get sea-sick when their vessel's nose is outside the 
bar." Thus reasons the worthy merchant skipper 
whenever you introduce the subject of the navy, and 
perhaps there is much truth in what he says. 

There is a slight current setting to the westward. 
Latitude, 20° 9' south ; longitude, 83° f east. 

October 11 

Strong Trades, hard squalls, and rough sea. We 
ought to have made two hundred and fifty miles yes- 
terday, but two hundred was our run. All last night 
we had a grand breeze from southeast true, and, the 
wind being well abaft the beam, we could carry on 
well even through the squalls. The northeast swell 
that is still running, when it meets the trade-swell 
from southeast, makes a very dirty sea indeed ; and 
though we do not take very much water on board, 
we shipped a heavy sea up forward this forenoon 
that completely buried everything nearly out of sight, 
two hands that were at work near the carpenter's 
shop saving themselves by monkey-like leaps into 
the fore-rigging. At ten, just as I was about to go 
below and thump on my wife's door, this being the 
hour for her to turn out, I saw an immense, peaked 
sea rise up alongside without the least warning, and, 
after seemingly to hesitate which way it would go, 
the whole mass fell aboard with a great crash just 
forward of the mizzen-shrouds, a most unusual place. 

227 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Thinking that my wife would be frightened, I lost no 
time in getting below and found everything in our 
room drenched by the sea, part of which came 
hurtling in through the forward port. This port I 
never dreamed of closing in the heaviest weather in 
the Southern Ocean, and this was the first time a 
drop of water had entered in that way. The seas, 
while running our easting down, all coming from aft 
and falling aboard forward, we could keep our for- 
ward port open even with three feet of solid water 
on the main-deck without being in danger of a wet- 
ting. My wife, therefore, was greatly shocked when 
she saw the water flying in through the port, and 
ever since I have been unable to persuade her that 
it was a chance sea, and that it was improbable that 
another would follow. 

We had to stow the sky-sails last night, and from 
present indications the royals will soon follow suit. 
At five yesterday afternoon, rigged preventer guys 
on the lower mizzentop-sail- and cross-jack-yards. 
Latitude at noon, 17° 8' south; longitude, 83° 44' 
east; 

October 12 

Strong Trades and rough sea continue to prevail. 
As I surmised, all the royals had to come in last 
night before dark, the sea being heavy and very 
ugly. The " Mandalore," as she rose to the crests 
of the big beam-seas, would heel over till the water 
boiled over the lee bulwarks, while the squalls fairly 
screamed as they tore through the shrouds and gear. 
To our great surprise, the wind shifted in the morn- 

228 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ing watch from southeast to east-northeast, which, of 
course, braced us sharp up with the yards touching 
the lee backstays. And when I went on deck this 
morning I found the ship plunging along in a con- 
fused sea, but not going ahead much. We are there- 
fore not doing well, in spite of the ripping breeze, 
and are not making good better than north by west 
on account of a fairly strong westerly current. We 
experienced another change also : from a temperate 
heat to a torrid humidity not only disagreeable, but 
very enervating. The change was due, of course, to 
the wind's having canted northerly and blowing right 
off the steaming Malay Peninsula, where the wet 
season is just drawing to a close. I was very much 
surprised to find, while looking over some sailing 
directions, what a difference exists in the direction of 
the monsoon on and around the continent of Asia. 
We are accustomed to hear only of the southwest 
and northeast monsoons, and these, indeed, are the 
winds that blow in the Bay of Bengal in their re- 
spective seasons. At Shanghai, though, they blow 
from north to south-southeast ; northeast and south- 
west at Rangoon, this port being in the Bay of Ben- 
gal; and north and west-southwest at Bombay, I 
am told that in the Arabian Sea the monsoon is 
very strong, and, being well to the westward, the 
immense fleet of steamers running between Bombay 
or Colombo and Aden generally have a hard time 
getting across, their decks being continually swept. 

We are speculating how far north the Trades will 
carry us, the skipper thinking they will leave us in 
about 10° south. If they do, we'll have a dismal 

229 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

time of it between there and Calcutta, as there is no 
monsoon now to depend on, this being at the change 
from southwest to northeast, and there will be no 
settled wind for some time yet. If we had not been 
humbugging so long in the North Atlantic, we might 
have saved the southwest wind up the bay, which 
is one explanation of the skipper's wishing to make 
a fast passage this particular voyage. And, besides 
saving the monsoon, we would reach Calcutta just 
in time to escape the hurricane season. 

There was a mistake in the observations yesterday 
owing to bad sights, and we were much gratified to 
find to-day that we were a whole degree farther 
north than we supposed, which put us in latitude 
.13° 47' south; longitude, 83° 40' east. 

October 13 

Moderate winds and a smooth sea. The heavy 
swell has entirely gone down, and we are now enjoy- 
ing weather similar to that in the southeast Trades 
in the Atlantic. The wind has gone back to south- 
southeast, the humidity has disappeared, every stitch 
of canvas is spread, and we are slipping along toward 
the equator at seven knots, with hardly a motion. 
The breeze is so balmy and delicious that you can 
almost apply to it the poet's name of intoxicating ; 
and nothing can equal the pleasure of lying in your 
bunk, reading by an open port, with the fresh trade- 
wind gushing in over you, making joyful the very 
fact of being alive, added to the unspeakable delight 
of simply being at sea on a day like this, that every 
one who truly loves the ocean must feel. 

230 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

The wind did not haul to southeast, though, till this 
forenoon, and during nearly the whole of yesterday 
we were forced to steer a north-northwest course; 
but we made one hundred and fifty-eight miles, some 
of which, unfortunately, was westing. When bound 
up the Bay of Bengal in the winter months, when 
the northeast winds are blowing, it is necessary to 
steer well over toward the eastern side of the bay, 
crossing the line at the 88th or 89th meridian, so as 
not to be jammed on the Cuttack shore. 

There is at sea a prevalent notion that the moon 
exerts a baneful influence on those who sleep exposed 
to its rays in the tropics. I have always regarded 
this as moonshine, but an article in a nautical paper 
on board has made me think much about the matter, 
and^from this account it would appear that the moon 
has a deleterious effect on the eyes of those who 
sleep under its rays without shelter. The article in 
question concerns the American ship " El Capitan," 
that arrived at New York some months ago from 
Hiogo. The moon-blink, as it is called, first struck 
the men when the ship was forty-four days out from 
Hiogo. The weather was very hot, and several of 
the men, contrary to the advice of their shipmates, 
slept exposed to the rays of the almost full moon. 
At the end of nine days some of the men began to 
complain that they could not see at night, and at 
length it was discovered that from dark to dawn the 
men were almost totally blind, could not go aloft, 
and were perfectly useless, though their sight returned 
in broad daylight. A short time afterward their eyes 
became inflamed, necessitating constant applications 

231 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

of water ; and at length ulcers made their appearance, 
together with a singular growth on the eyelids. Up 
to this time the skipper of " El Capitan" had always 
laughed at moon-blink, and several years before had 
clapped a man in irons because he said he was 
moon-blind and couldn't work; but on this occa- 
sion he acknowledged that there must be something 
in it, as those who had slept in the forecastle were 
perfectly well and in their normal condition, while 
those who had reposed under the full influence of the 
moon were totally unfit for duty. 

I cannot pretend to say whether there is really 
such a disease as moon-blink or not, but that it is a 
wide-spread belief among sailors is proved by an ex- 
perience of my own. I was making a voyage from 
Nassau to New York on a Norwegian tramp steamer, 
the " Johannes Brun," on one occasion, having missed 
the mail-boat The first night at sea I deposited 
myself upon an immense manila hawser coiled away 
in the stern, and had just composed myself for a 
delightful nap when I was awakened by some one 
tugging me by the sleeve, and looking up I saw 
Captain Wesenberg gazing at me with consternation 
written on his face. " Git oop, git oop," said he ; 
"don't you see you're sleeping in de moonlight? 
She will make you blind ; you must not sleep here. 
Come below." And I was actually not allowed to 
stay where I was, but was forced to retire to my 
cabin. 

I was reminded of this last night when I saw the 
carpenter, who had been dozing on the main-hatch, 
get up and rouse the cook, who had also been nod- 

232 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ding away, as soon as the moon's rays appeared over 
the rail. Both the men rose without a word and at 
once went aft to the midship-house. Latitude at 
noon, 11° 41' south; longitude, 82° 54' east. 

Sunday, October 14 

All to-day we had a delicious breeze from the 
eastward that sent us along right merrily. It was 
much fresher than we expected, and the skipper is 
beaming with joy at having so strong a breeze so far 
north. It was sizzling hot on deck, though, and for 
the first time in many weeks the awning was spread. 
We needed it several days ago, but the wind has 
been too strong, as it has seen its best days, and a 
good fresh breeze would doubtless whip it into 
ribbons. 

Last night the most dreaded catastrophe that can 
happen a vessel at sea befell us : fire broke out for- 
ward. As near as I can learn, it was the carpenter's 
fault. We were going smoothly along with every- 
thing set, the night being fine and clear. The wheel 
had just been relieved at four bells in the first- watch, 
and Mr. Ryan and I were walking the poop, calcu- 
lating how much longer we would probably be at 
sea, when one of the men came aft (the one who had 
the wheel during the knock-down in the Gulf Stream) 
and, mounting the poop-ladder, said very quietly, 
without the least show of excitement, " Mr. Ryan, 
the ship's afire forward." Not deeming it necessary 
to awake the skipper, who had turned in, the mate 
jumped off the poop and ran forward as hard as he 
could go, I following immediately after ; and a sight 

233 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

greeted me, when I had passed the galley, that I'll 
never forget. Both watches stood grouped about 
the fore-hatch, those who had turned out being 
almost naked, gazing, with fear in their eyes, at the 
port light-house, the interior of which was a mass 
of flames, that cast a deep-red glow over the whole 
forward part of the ship. 

A fire at sea takes the heart right out of a fore- 
mast hand. He will witness without flinching the 
approach of a tropical cyclone, or sleep peacefully 
through a howling Cape Horn gale, surrounded by 
a fleet of ice-bergs. But fire seems to sap his cour- 
age, and I actually saw a couple of hands blubbering 
a little. 

When we had approached as close as we could we 
saw that the great port light, almost three times as 
large and powerful as Lloyd calls for, had exploded 
from being filled too full, and the burning oil was 
scattered over everything, not only in the light-house, 
which was iron, but also over the paint-shop under 
the light-house. Things looked very bad, and I own 
to a dominant sense of uneasiness and dread until I 
thought of the iron deck under the wooden one 
between us and the oil below. After this I was 
somewhat reassured and could survey the proceed- 
ings with calmness. We had not been forward more 
than a minute or two before the wooden ladder by 
which access to the light-house was obtained from the 
paint-room caught fire, and the whole of that apart- 
ment was then a mass of flames. Mr. Ryan looked 
around and, picking out two of the coolest hands 
(Simmons and the one that gave the alarm), ordered 

234 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

them to bring up some strips of canvas and wads of 
oakum, wet them down under the head-pump, and 
then together they would see what could be done in 
the way of smothering the fire. The canvas, etc., was 
brought up in a few moments, pending which it was 
difficult to prevent the rest of the men from throwing 
water on the flames, — a fatal proceeding, as it would 
have splashed everything in the vicinity with the 
blazing kerosene. 

Then the mate and three seamen did some really 
heroic work, entering right into the burning paint- 
shop and fighting the fierce blaze with great, dripping 
oakum wads. While this was going on a stream of 
oil ran out through a little scupper-hole in the paint- 
shop and into the iron water-ways, down which it 
flowed, a tiny rivulet of flame. I looked to see the 
running gear coiled over the pins catch fire, in which 
case the top-hamper would have caught in an instant, 
for nothing scarcely is so inflammable as dry manila 
and hemp ; while the top-gallant-, royal-, and sky-sail- 
yards being all of wood, we would have had a terri- 
ble fight of it if the halliards, etc., had caught. But 
the men, with more sense than I credited them with, 
ran along and lifted the big coils off the pins, placing 
them lengthwise on the pin-rail, and the little rill of 
oil burned itself out before any damage was done. 
Meanwhile the mate had fought valiantly, scorching 
himself badly, but extinguishing the flames so success- 
fully that in fifteen minutes nothing remained of the 
fire save that here and there a charred ember glowed 
in the darkness like a big fire-fly. When things had 
cooled off sufficiently, I went into the paint-shop, 

235 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

which I found a complete ruin, together with all its con- 
tents, paints, varnishes, and brushes all being totally- 
destroyed, A great deal of paint had been freshly 
mixed for repainting the inside of the bulwarks, pre- 
paring for port, and this was in open kegs, which had 
been overturned, thus wasting an immense quantity. 

I can assure those who have never been similarly 
placed that the sight I saw when I rounded the for- 
ward house would whiten the face of the sturdiest of 
men, and no one on board dared breathe scarcely till 
the last spark had been stamped out ; and after it was 
all over I saw more than one brown fist tremble as 
some of the men lit their pipes. Never shall I forget 
the picture of the ship's company as they huddled in 
a bunch about the fore-hatch, the crimson light out- 
lining with singular fierceness their rugged, bearded 
faces. 

If the fault really lies with the carpenter, who has 
charge of the lights, because he filled the lamp too 
full, I wouldn't care to face the music he'll have to 
dance to to-morrow, for a good deal. What the 
damage will amount to I don't know ; but I do know 
that such lights as we carry cost from twenty-five to 
forty pounds, and every penny counts to the owners 
of a ship that receive only twelve cents a case for oil 
from New York to Calcutta. Latitude at noon, 9° 
36' south ; longitude, 83° 10' east. 

October 15 

We are having our first stroke of luck since the 
voyage began. I refer to our carrying the Trades 
so far north. They have been quite fresh for twenty- 

236 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

four hours, and we have averaged eight knots and 
over. We are now in the same latitude as and about 
midway between the Straits of Sunda and the Chagos 
Archipelago, and we ought, I should think, to sight 
sailing-ships bound from the straits to the Cape, 
though I am not certain what route they take at this 
season after passing Java Head. 

I never think of the Straits of Sunda that my 
mind does not revert to the fearful eruption of the 
volcano on the island of Krakatoa, situated almost in 
the middle of the strait, in August, 1883. It was 
the most violent ever known, and it is probable that 
the eruption of Vesuvius that buried Herculaneum, 
or those of Mauna Loa that periodically devastate 
part of Hawaii, in the Sandwich group, cannot at all 
be compared to the dreadful catastrophe of Krakatoa. 
The eruption destroyed half the island, leaving water 
two hundred fathoms deep where the volcano had 
stood, and frightful convulsions of the earth suc- 
ceeded the explosions from the mountains. Half 
the town of Anjer was blotted off the earth, thirty 
thousand persons being drowned on the neighboring 
coasts by tidal waves, which then swept across the 
oceans, registering their arrival on the tide-gauges in 
various harbors all over the world. The concussions 
of the atmosphere were so tremendous that windows 
were broken one hundred miles away and the ex- 
plosions were heard all over the Malay Archipelago, 
half of Australia, and half the Indian Ocean, as far 
as three thousand miles from the scene of the dis- 
aster ! 

Many will remember the remarkable red sunsets 
237 



""% 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

in the latter part of 1883 ; they were caused by dust 
and pumice-stone ejected from Krakatoa that were 
held in suspension in the atmosphere for months and 
imparted to it a wonderful crimson glow in all parts 
of the world. The account of the eruption by an 
eye-witness, published in one of our magazines, I 
will never forget. He was one of a scientific party 
on a Dutch man-of-war, and landed on the coast of 
Java after the eruption, but prior to the earthquakes, 
and was a spectator of the partial — indeed, nearly the 
total — destruction of Anjer. His description was 
terribly realistic, and he told how he and his party 
had to run across a field of ashes so hot that their 
foot-prints, when they raised their feet, glowed with 
incandescent heat, 

I asked Captain Kingdon where he was at the 
time, and he said he was master of the ship " Stock- 
ton," off St. Helena, homeward bound from Ran- 
goon ; but that he saw the devastation wrought by 
the earthquake on his next voyage, as he went out 
to Anjer for orders and rode all over the surround- 
ing country, evidences of the convulsions being but 
too frequent and terrible. Latitude, 6° 59' south; 
longitude, 83° 50' east. 

October 16 

A hot, rainy, and most dismal day. Just such a 
day as one's imagination pictures in West Africa, 
except that we are minus the fever. I never thought 
the atmosphere could be so oppressive, or so satu- 
rated with humidity. Everything on board reeks 
with moisture. Soda-biscuit just brought from the 

238 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

oven and laid on the table are actually limber in ten 
minutes ; sheet-music is so limp that it will not stand 
upright on the music-rack ; while the pages of my 
journal are so moist that the ink spreads, and it is 
with difficulty that I can make legible characters. 
To the discomforts of the intense heat and over- 
powering humidity is added that of an almost per- 
fect calm, for we are not doing half a mile an hour 
as I write. The end of the Trades has come, and 
here we are practically under the line with scarcely 
a breath of wind, while rain has fallen in torrents all 
day. It might be supposed, by those who have never 
been in the tropics, that this affords relief, but it 
doesn't, for the temperature is 87° at mid-day and 
86° at midnight. I don't think there are many 
women who could withstand the discomforts of such 
weather as this is as well as my wife does ; what a 
week of it will do, of course, we cannot tell, but she 
certainly bears it well so far. As for myself, I do not 
suffer from heat at all. Perspiration streams from 
me, even from the backs of my hands ; so that I do 
not find this sort of weather at all unbearable ; it is 
only the unfortunate individual who does not perspire 
much that suffers in high temperatures. No relief is 
to be obtained by going on deck, as it is necessary 
to put on oil-skins ; and enveloped in these imper- 
vious garments was similar to the steam-room of a 
Russian bath. 

Two frigate-birds stayed with us a while this fore- 
noon, fascinating us with the stately circles in which 
they sailed over our mast-heads, and the perfect ease 
with which they maintained themselves at any given 

239 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

altitude without movement of wing. The nearest 
land is the Chagos Archipelago, fully five hundred 
miles away ; so that the birds are a long way from 
home ; I didn't know they flew such a distance from 
land. They seemed to be smaller frigate-birds than 
those we saw off Trinidad, — a fact that I mentioned 
to Captain Kingdon, who told me that the breed 
inhabiting the eastern seas from Madagascar to the 
Moluccas is considerably smaller than the other, 
specimens of which we saw in the South Atlantic. 

As we got no sights at all to-day, and as the 
Indian Ocean is full of currents, the position of the 
ship by dead-reckoning is probably wrong, though 
it is the best we can do. At noon we figured that 
we were in latitude 5° i' south; longitude, 84° 
30' east. 

October 17 

Another day of very great heat, with heavy down- 
pours forty-five minutes out of every hour. Some- 
times the sky to the southward has a terrific aspect ; 
tremendous masses of blue-black cloud forming while 
you look at them, and moving very fast, with a 
ragged, writhing under edge, come rushing up, and 
you think they're going to rip every stitch of canvas 
off the ship. Instead of which they pass by scarcely 
disturbing the surface of the water, showing that the 
atmospheric agitation is all in the upper strata of air. 
These accumulations of vapor are very alarming to 
one who has never had any experience in eastern 
waters, but the feeling of uneasiness soon passes 
away, and they always prevail during the southwest 

240 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

monsoon, which makes the skipper think that we will 
still save that precious wind up the Bay of Bengal. 
We had a nice little breeze last night and up to 
eleven this morning ; but during the afternoon we 
had only occasional cat's paws from southwest and 
were practically becalmed. 

The noise made by the deluges of rain is quite 
alarming the first time you hear it. I thought I had 
seen heavy rain in the Atlantic ; but, my goodness ! 
it wasn't much more than a shower compared with 
what we have here. Between the downpours there 
is not a sound to be heard, for there is no swell here, 
and no motion of the sea sufficient to move the ship ; 
when suddenly, not gradually, as we are accustomed 
to, but unexpectedly and with full force, a perfect 
water-fall of rain will tumble down, the drops at 
times so large that if you are below they sound not 
unlike shot falling on deck. 

Three little land-birds flew aboard this afternoon ; 
we think they belong to the swallow family, and that 
they probably followed some ship from Ceylon and 
were blown so far off shore that they were unable to 
make the land again. The poor little creatures were 
very tired, and it was singular to see birds at sea 
without webbed feet. 

To-day I won the backgammon match that my 
wife and I have been playing for some time. We 
have kept a score of all the games we have played 
since leaving New York, and a fortnight ago, being 
about even, we agreed that if my wife won her two 
thousandth game first she would win a guitar, and 
if I were to finish first she should give me a zither. 
i6 241 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

I was fortunate enough to win, the score standing 
two thousand games to nineteen hundred and 
seventy-eight, showing that there was a difference 
of only twenty-two games in almost four thousand. 

Poor old John, the ancient mariner, is growing 
weaker day by day, and I don't see how he can last 
to Calcutta. He is shockingly emaciated ; the only 
notice taken of him, though, is when the boson swears 
at him for occupying the hospital, necessitating the 
removal of the rolls of duck and quantities of small 
stuff, with which the place was filled, out on to the 
floor of the midship-house, in which the hospital is 
located. The steward also generally growls out an 
oath at him at meal-times. I have never seen so 
pitiful a creature. 

As the sun didn't show himself at any time of the 
day, we had to rely again on dead-reckoning, which 
put us in latitude 3° south; longitude, 85° 46' east. 

October 18 

We had to take in the sky-sails last night for a 
wicked-looking northeast squall. It passed, as most 
of them do now, without much disturbance, though 
a skipper cannot be too careful in the matter of 
shortening sail at this season in the Indian Ocean ; 
and I have noticed that Captain Kingdon consults 
the aneroid four or five times a day, now that we are 
approaching the Bay of Bengal, that hurricane hot- 
bed. What the mariner would do without the ba- 
rometer is painful to think of, for it is often the only 
certain warning he has of the fearful cyclones that 
rage in these seas at the change of the monsoons. 

242 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

To-day we experienced some relief from the heat, 
for we had a light air from the westward that sensibly- 
lowered the temperature, though we made but thirty- 
four miles of latitude in the twenty-four hours. The 
drinking-water has become very warm, though it is 
still as clear and sweet as when first pumped into the 
tanks ; my wife never drinks it, though, preferring 
soda-water and Apollinaris. Both the latter are at a 
temperature of 90°, and when we open a bottle of 
soda two-thirds of it fly out with a loud report, in 
spite of all care. 

It is singular the readiness with which sailors can 
instantly detect the nationality of a vessel by the 
way she is rigged or sparred, though there are a 
great many oddities in the ships of various nations 
known only to him "who does business in great 
waters." No matter how crowded a harbor may be, 
one can always pick out an American ship from the 
rest ; even a landsman can. This is by reason of her 
cleanliness and being far better " groomed" and much 
more handsomely sparred and rigged than the ships 
of any other nation in the world. Never was this 
fact more clearly disclosed to me than on a certain 
morning just before we sailed, while I was taking my 
favorite stroll along the East River front. About 
half a mile below the bridge the big American ship 
" Shenandoah" was loading a general cargo for San 
Francisco, in which iron gas-pipe and steel-rails 
seemed to predominate. Some of the merchandise 
was very cumbersome and difficult to handle, yet 
everything was done quietly, not a single article was 
out of place, the decks were perfectly clear fore and aft, 

243 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

and the yards absolutely square ; while a general air 
of man-of-war discipline was to be perceived through- 
out the ship, and this although the skipper was not 
on board. 

On walking a few steps down the river, I saw a 
big British ship loading case-oil for Melbourne. 
What a contrast did she present to the " Shenan- 
doah !" She was stowing a much easier cargo to 
handle, yet every one was yelling out at the top of 
his lungs, the decks were littered with odd bits of 
rope, tattered hemp sails, and old pairs of dungaree 
trousers, while the immense and unnecessary amount 
of brass- work was as dingy as old iron in a junk- 
shop, in contrast to the Yankee's, which shone like a 
yacht's. Aloft she was no better, for her trucks 
were set just above the hounds of the royal-rigging, 
giving her a squatty, dumpy look compared to the 
" Shenandoah's" slender sky-sail-poles. This is not 
an isolated case, but one that can be met with any 
day. 

Scandinavian ships can always be told by their 
windmill pumps, which all of their vessels of three 
hundred tons and upward are compelled to carry, — 
an excellent idea, as the Norwegians are constantly 
buying up old ships of other nations that would 
not float long were it not for this wise precaution. 
Frenchmen have very long poles above their rigging, 
and the Spaniard can be discerned by his fondness 
for white paint and often by old-fashioned netting 
under his bowsprit. German and Dutch ships can 
be picked out by their very small ports and door- 
ways in their deck-houses, as though they were afraid 

244 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

of fresh air, while Nova Scotians are proclaimed 
such by their short spars. 

There is an infallible way of distinguishing an 
English ship from a Yankee before her hull has 
risen, and that is that the Englishman always has 
a greater drop to his courses and correspondingly 
narrower top-sails than our ships, which was still 
more apparent when the old single top-sails were 
used. Almost all European ships have standing 
gaffs for their spankers, American ships never; 
while the latter generally have square sterns and 
wheel-houses and carry carvel-built boats. If a full- 
rigged brig is seen nowadays, it is safe to assume 
that she is a Greek, this being the only nation nowa- 
days that clings to this almost obsolete and clumsy 
rig; while almost all the sailing-vessels under the 
Italian, Austrian, and Norwegian flags are bark- 
rigged ; though the Italians lately have built a 
number of ships for the Horn trade to Frisco, " Ac- 
came" being part of the name of each one, whatever 
that may be. Latitude at noon, 2° 26' south ; longi- 
tude, 86° east. 

October 19 

Hotter to-day, if anything. Many people will ridi- 
cule the idea that it is really and truly hot when the 
temperature is not above 90°. I myself have experi- 
enced a temperature of 104° in the shade in central 
New York, but that was nothing to this suffocating 
humidity. If any one thinks it isn't hot here, I would 
exhort that person to make an Indian voyage in an 
iron ship and enter the Bay of Bengal during or at 

245 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the end of the southwest monsoon. The iron sides 
of the ship become heated to an extraordinary de- 
gree, so that it is impossible to bear the hand for a 
moment on the rail, while great waves of heat rise 
up from the deck and are seen shimmering and un- 
dulating to the height of eight or ten feet. I wish I 
could take the temperature in the sun up by the 
main-hatch, but my thermometer reads only to 120°, 
and, as it is the only one on board, I cannot. On 
any other ship I fancy the temperature would be 
95° day and night; but the " Mandalore's" saloon 
was constructed just for this sort of weather. Her 
skylight extends almost the whole length of the 
cabin, while six doors leading into it from passage- 
ways afford every opportunity for draughts. 

My wife continues to stand the weather wonder- 
fully well ; she never could have done it in the state 
of health she was in before we left New York, and it 
is very gratifying to see the change wrought in her by 
four months of strong, life-giving salt air. I am sure 
that the lives of many people would be saved if they 
could be persuaded to start on a long ocean voyage, 
leaving delicacies and gouty wines ashore, and rely- 
ing upon the health-giving properties of sea-air, vary- 
ing from the heat of the tropics to the icy blasts of 
the Southern Ocean. It is the very changes them- 
selves that benefit those in search of health ; and I 
can imagine nothing more conducive to the building 
up of one's constitution than, after a few days close 
to the line in the Atlantic under a broiling sun, to 
have the southeast Trades begin to blow, — a wind as 
soft as velvet, yet stimulating and revivifying to an 

246 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

extraordinary degree. When you take the southeast 
Trades in the Indian Ocean, bound north, you do not 
notice it, of course, having just left a cold climate. 
But when you take them in the Atlantic, after a 
scorching week of light westerly winds, the effect is 
simply electrical, and you feel as though you had 
swallowed the elixir of life. 

We made thirty-nine miles of latitude yesterday, 
and I think most of it was due to currents, for the 
only breeze we had was from the draughts of air out 
of the sails when the ship wallowed about in the 
light swell. 

Pete is getting on famously in this sort of weather, 
though his bill of fare, now that the potatoes and 
onions are gone, is very much reduced. He is still 
at war with the second mate, whose hands show 
scores of marks from Pete's sharp little teeth. Lati- 
tude at noon, i° 47' south; longitude, 86° 20' east. 

October 20 

The great heat continues. It is quite impossible 
for words to convey any meaning of what it is like. 
Still, for all that, I prefer this to the icy squalls of the 
Cape, and I cannot truthfully say that it is too hot 
for me. We have been compelled to knock off our 
noon grog, for even a tablespoonful of any sort of 
liquor produces a most disagreeable result. 

Sail ho ! was the cry just as we finished breakfast, 
and on looking over to the westward we perceived 
the top-sails of a large ship ; in another half-hour 
we could see her courses, and at ten the hull had 
risen above the sea-line. We were in sight of each 

247 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

other till dark, as throughout the entire afternoon we 
experienced an absolute and perfect calm. I never 
saw the ocean in this state before. During the pre- 
vious calms we have been in, small, dark blurs on the 
surface of the water every fifteen minutes or so would 
show us that currents of air, however light, were in 
motion, and if a chip were thrown over the side it 
would be out of sight in ten or fifteen minutes, our 
upper canvas on these occasions doing the work ; 
and I should say that we seldom made less than half 
a mile an hour, not counting currents. But this 
afternoon the ocean was as motionless as a sea of 
ice ; not a breath of wind disturbed its surface even 
for a moment, and not the smallest undulation rattled 
the blocks or broke the death- like stillness. The 
absence of sound was positively uncanny. Even the 
rudder-head ceased to kick, and our own voices alone 
broke the oppressive silence. I knew also for the 
first time what sailors mean by a " sky of brass and 
a copper sun," and there was a curious phenomenon 
to be observed in connection with the calm and heat. 
It was this : Right alongside the water was still of 
the same magnificent, royal color ; but at a distance 
of perhaps scarcely a hundred yards the blue seemed 
to merge into a whitish vapor that arose from the 
sea like a thin steam, extending to the horizon, though 
not far above the surface, giving the whole ocean a 
curious appearance and dazzling the eyes with its 
glare. 

The decks give off more heat-waves than ever, 
and I marvel how the men can work under such a 
sun, especially when painting. Every long-voyage 

248 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ship, before she reaches port, receives a thorough 
overhauling alow and aloft, and the repainting of the 
vessel is one of the principal parts of it ; that is, the 
inside of the bulwarks, the deck-houses, bitts, chocks, 
capstans, — in short, everything but the top-sides, as 
the painting of that part of the ship would be but a 
patched-up job at best; though it is the part that 
needs it most, for the black paint is streaked with 
iron rust to such an extent that it seems as though 
nothing could ever reclaim the hull from its present 
dilapidated appearance. 

When the men had finished their dinner at noon, 
the whole of the port watch — mate as well as seamen 
— turned to and knocked and scraped the old paint 
off the iron-work, after which the new coat was ap- 
plied tinder a sun that fairly sizzled. Marryat spins 
a facetious yarn about broiling steaks on the rocks in 
Egypt; but it seemed to me that you could have 
roasted four ribs of beef on the main-deck at three 
this afternoon. The fumes of the paint, too, clung to 
the ship and penetrated everywhere, there being no 
breath of air to carry them away. As there is not 
too much ozone in the atmosphere anyhow, the 
fumes of the white lead and turpentine were anything 
but welcome. 

Desiring to take the temperature of the surface 
of the sea to-day, I lowered a thermometer over the 
side and suspended it, as near as I could judge, one 
foot below the surface ; and when I drew it up at the 
end of fifteen minutes the mercury stood at 843^°, 
■ — a pretty high temperature to find in the open sea, 
but nothing compared to that often recorded in the 

249 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Persian Gulf and Red Sea, where 95° is not infre- 
quent ; while it is a fact that on four successive days 
the temperature of the Red Sea was found to be 100°, 
106°, i<X)°, and 96° ! Latitude at noon, 1° 20' south ; 
longitude, 86° 32' east. 

Sunday, October 21 

Sixteen weeks at sea to-day. The weather has 
changed a little, as we have been going ahead at 
about two knots an hour, having made forty-six 
miles of northing since yesterday. It was another 
intensely hot day, but somewhat cloudy in the after- 
noon, and about five o'clock we saw several immense 
water-spouts. I observed four of these strange phe- 
nomena depending from one black cloud ; and as we 
were quite close to them I could distinctly see their 
manner of formation. First, four small projections 
were let down from the cloud toward the surface of 
the sea, having somewhat the appearance of fingers. 
They very rapidly increased in size and strength, 
and immediately the ocean beneath each funnel was 
agitated into foam, showing that the rotary motion 
generated in the cloud reached the water before the 
cloud-finger had touched the surface. As the latter ij 
descended still farther, the water boiled and seethed 
and seemed to smoke as the funnel dipped down and 
appeared to touch the sea. I failed to see the hour- 
glass shape of the cloud, so often shown in pictures, 
where both ends are greatly expanded and the mid- 
dle constricted. The upper ends of those we saw 
flared out a good deal, but the rest of the funnel 
reached to the sea in a straight line till it met the 

250 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

seething water at the base of the column, which 
looked exactly like a cloud of steam escaping from 
a vent in the ocean. It was a curious sight ; and, 
although I had previously seen great numbers of 
water-spouts in the Caribbean Sea, I never saw them 
so close as we did to-day, when we were probably 
not more than a mile away from them. It is known 
that the water in these spouts is perfectly fresh, 
though many who have given the matter no thought 
imagine that all the water in them has been sucked 
up from the sea, and is consequently salt. 

My wife continues to bear up splendidly against 
the heat. We are looking for a light westerly wind 
that ought to blow from the line up to io° north at 
this particular season ; and when we get it I think 
it'll take some of the overpowering humidity out of 
the air. Mr. Ryan told me to-day that he never 
before felt such hot, enervating weather. He has 
made one eastern voyage before this to Saigon, but 
the northeast monsoon was blowing then, and there 
was not this great sultriness that renders the heat 
nearly unendurable to most people during the south- 
west monsoon. Most of the mate's experience at 
sea has been in the North Atlantic Ocean between 
St. John and the United Kingdom, — taken as a whole, 
one of the worst bodies of water on the globe. In 
proof of which, sailing-vessels are not allowed to 
load within five inches of the Plimsoll mark for a 
voyage to the westward across the North Atlantic 
in the winter months. The most tempestuous part 
of the whole Atlantic is in the neighborhood of 
45° north and 45° west, and is known to sailors as 

251 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the Devil's Blow-hole. An account of a violent gale 
in that part of the ocean is well described by Captain 
Samuels in his book, " From the Forecastle to the 
Cabin," during which the old " Dreadnought" had a 
terrible experience and Samuels himself was nearly 
killed. Latitude at noon, 34' south ; longitude, Sy° 
2' east. 

October 22 

We rendered yesterday immortal by making just 
nothing at all ! It is a fact. To-day's observations 
put her in precisely the same latitude and longitude 
that we were in yesterday. This very rarely happens, 
as a vessel in twenty-four hours generally makes 
some headway or sternway or drifts broadside, but 
we remained perfectly stationary not thirty-five miles 
from the equator. When I had worked up the 
sights I thought I had made a mistake in figuring, 
till I compared my work with the skipper's and found 
that we exactly agreed. 

Our kodak is out of order and has been for some 
time, — an unfortunate circumstance, as I wanted to 
take a picture of the second mate, for I don't believe 
there's another human being on earth that looks 
anything like him. Strange to say, he is very 
anxious to have his photograph taken ; as I thought 
this class of men were not particularly anxious to 
have their features transferred to paper. Neither 
have we a picture of Captain Kingdon, which I 
regret deeply ; I have been intending to ask him to 
let me photograph him, but kept putting it off; and 
now I can't do it at all. 

252 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

When we packed our trunks to come to sea I threw 
into them a collection of yacht photographs, — some 
of the " Vigilant," " Valkyrie IL," and " Volunteer," 
besides some pictures of our big racing schooners ; 
and having an excellent opportunity this afternoon, 
I took them into the mate's room and showed them 
to him. Like all merchant sailors, he affected a dis- 
dain for such vessels ; but by and by, in spite of him- 
self, he grew interested, and presently I could see 
that he would like to get command of a large cruis- 
ing yacht ; and, after he had become accustomed to 
the discipline on board, he would make a first-rate 
sailing-master ; for he is a fine navigator, a splendid 
seaman, and if anything unusual occurs he never 
loses his head, but keeps absolutely self-possessed. 
Latitude, 34' south ; longitude, 87° 2! east. 

October 23 

All hail. Zephyr and Auster ! We are deeply be- 
holden to thee for thy bounty, and a libation has 
been offered up as a reward for thy good deeds. In 
plain language, by the combined efforts of the 
westerly and southerly winds, though the very faint- 
est of breezes, we crossed the equator in the morn- 
ing watch, close to the eighty-seventh meridian, en- 
tering the Northern Hemisphere, as near as can be 
figured, at quarter-past four, thirty-seven days from 
the Cape. Thus we have now entered upon the last 
quarter of our voyage; for a voyage like this is 
divisible into quarters, — the first from New York to 
the line, the second from the line to the Cape, the 
third from the Cape to the line, and the fourth from 

253 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

the line to Calcutta. Our luck has been good lately, 
bar the last two days, when during forty-eight hours 
we covered only forty-five miles of latitude and 
eighteen of longitude. 

An incident happened, though, to mar the day. At 
ten o'clock this a.m., the starboard watch being on 
deck, Carson was heard blaspheming in a terrible 
voice forward and threatening the steward with a 
hand-spike. The Finn was nearly as bad, and, as the 
row seemed about to become general, the second 
mate thought he'd better tell the " Old Man." So 
aft he went, and when he had placed the facts before 
the skipper he was ordered to tell Carson and the 
Finn to step aft to the quarter-deck. They did so, 
swaggering along with an insolent leer, though I 
thought the Finn looked a little nervous. When 
they had reached the mizzen-hatch. Captain King- 
don went down on the main-deck and, addressing 
himself to the Finn, asked him what his grievance 
was. In broken English and a trembling voice he 
answered meekly enough, but with black scowls at 
the galley, that the steward didn't give the men 
enough to eat, that the tea and coffee wouldn't go 
around, and, what was worse, they had no sugar nor 
molasses. The skipper said he would look into it, 
and the Finn was ordered forward to give Carson his 
chance. It was a wily move on the skipper's part, 
as he well knew that Carson was the one with whom 
he had to deal. He began in a blustering way, 
actually swearing in the skipper's presence ; he was 
told to belay his jaw, and Captain Kingdon then said : 
" Now, Carson, I propose to talk to you like a man ; 

254 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

you are a man, arn't you ?" To which he answered, 
throwing out his chest and looking defiantly at the 
skipper, " Yes, I am a man ; I am a man." " Then 
tell me what the matter is," said the captain. But, in- 
stead of quietly spinning his yarn, Carson began his 
loud talking again, saying he'd have the life of that 

steward when we got into port. Then the 

skipper thought it was time to stop that sort of thing, 
and, dropping his mild tone of voice, he thundered at 
Carson, " I'm tired of this ; get forward, and don't let 
me hear anything more from you, or I'll make you 
suffer; and don't forget that we've got fire-arms 
enough aft to go round, and that we know how to use 
'em." Carson went forward, but when he reached 
the main-hatch his passion got the better of him 
again, and he fairly shrieked with rage ; if the stew- 
ard had been near he would certainly have hit him 
with whatever he could reach. Probably the men 
have a grievance against the steward, but, if I were 
skipper, Carson would be in irons the rest of the 
passage. We will probably have light weather from 
now on, and could very well dispense with his 
services ; and he is so full of brag and insolence and 
defiance, and is hunting so assiduously for trouble, 
that putting him below for a couple of days anyhow 
would have a most salutary effect on the men. If 
my wife were not on board, I am sure Carson would 
sing a very different tune; but good old Captain 
Kingdon, with his customary forethought and con- 
sideration, hesitates about taking any extreme meas- 
ures ; for putting the irons on a powerful man is no 
easy job, and would frighten my wife to death prob- 

255 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ably and spoil the latter part of the voyage for her. 
Latitude, ii' north; longitude, 87° 20' east, 

October 24 

Oh, happy day ! Oh, joyous hour ! Once more we 

are forging ahead with streaming decks and gushing 
scuppers. For the glorious west wind has come and 
everything animate and inanimate is, as it were, imbued 
with new life. We are able to lay our course and a 
point to spare, which allows everything to draw 
freely, and the wind is a fine sky-sail breeze. It 
came last night in a heavy squall just before mid- 
night. I had remained up later than usual yarning 
with Mr. Ryan, and had just turned in, when the 
order came from the mate, unexpected, and breaking 
the silence like a pistol-shot, " Let go all sky-sail- 
and royal-halliards, quick now !" The tramping of 
feet followed, and then came the roaring of the wind, 
the clattering of the yards when the halliards had 
been cast off, and the slatting and thrashing of the 
canvas ; for the wind had struck us abeam with the 
yards squared. But nothing parted ; the braces were 
quickly manned, and in half an hour the royals and 
sky-sails too were spread to the fresh breeze that 
came singing out of the westward after the squall 
had passed ; and ever since we have been bowling 
along as handsomely as you please. But the full 
glory of the day was reached at three in the after- 
noon. The wind had freshened till we had all we 
could swing to under the sky-sails, and had canted a 
point or so southerly ; and being a little abaft the 
beam, the very best point of sailing, the brave old 

256 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

ship did her ten knots within the hour as of old ; 
while the flashing crests of the seas, the wonderful 
Prussian blue of the Indian Ocean, the schools of 
flying-fish breaking away in silvery flight from the 
vessel's side, and the almost life-like motions of the 
ship herself, with every sail doing its work so silently 
and steadily that they really looked like what they 
have been often compared to, — carvings of ivory. All 
this was so entrancing and full of life and vigor that 
it more than repaid us for the days of heat and calm. 
And, by the way, it is marvellous how a breeze, 
however light, cools the air and renders bearable and 
even pleasant an atmosphere that but five minutes 
before was oppressive with stifling heat. 

One of the redeeming features of those hot days 
was the extraordinary beauty of the twilights, which, 
though all too short, were so exquisite with the 
colors of sunset in the west and the rising stars in 
the east, that they lingered in my mind till the dusk 
had passed into the blackness of night and the light- 
ing of the cabin-lamps reminded me that it was time 
for the customary evening organ-playing. 

There is a magic beauty in the rising of the dif- 
ferent planets and stars, some of them as they mount 
higher in the heavens casting a wake on the sea, 
like the young moon's. Then the Pleiades and the 
splendid constellation of Orion begin to show above 
the horizon, adding immeasurably to the fairness 
of the picture. Just now, though, the horizon is 
shrouded round about in dense masses of cumulus 
cloud, while sharp squalls come ripping along at 
intervals out of the westward, and the men are 
17 257 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

constantly standing by the sky-sail- and even the 
royal-halliards. 

We have been making fine progress since midnight, 
and at noon found ourselves in latitude i° 49' north ; 
longitude, 88° 19' east. 

October 25 

Sad to tell, our grand breeze let go last night after 
a severe squall, and since daylight we have been 
fanning along at two or three miles per hour. The 
heat and sultriness have returned, and are almost as 
bad as they were two or three days ago, though the 
sky is overcast, and a tremendous quantity of rain 
fell this forenoon, — more than I ever saw in my life 
in so short a time. In consequence, the men are 
rubbing off the teak on the poop with pumice-stone, 
preparatory to revarnishing. Rainy weather is the 
best time to do this, as otherwise every man would 
have to have a bucket of water by him. The ship 
will soon don her holiday appearance and look like 
she did the first day I saw her at Pier 49, East 
River. 

Pete has to be kept below now, as when I take 
him on deck he seems to think that the men's bare 
feet were made for his own special gratification ; and 
before he had been on deck ten minutes this morn- 
ing he had tried his teeth on more than one heel and 
otherwise so interfered with the men that I had to 
take him below again. 

As we continue to advance farther and farther into 
the region of cyclones my interest in them increases, 
and I am reading assiduously Rosser's " Sailing 

258 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Directions for the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal" 
and that vade mecum of navigators in eastern waters, 
Piddington's " Sailors' Horn-Book." This is not, as 
the name would imply, a reference-book for Cape 
Horn, but an exhaustive digest of the laws of rotary 
storms, and containing extracts from the logs of hun- 
dreds of vessels caught in cyclones in various parts 
of the world, but chiefly in the Indian Ocean and 
Bay of Bengal ; horn-book really meaning a primer. 
Why Piddington should have called his book by that 
name is rather a mystery, as he treats his subject 
very minutely, particularly in the readings of the 
glass at the different stages of each cyclone. Dread- 
ful as the thought may be, the idea of passing 
through a cyclone is a fascinating one to me, and I 
would like to experience one in the bay. Besides, it 
is something to boast of to say that you have been 
through a hurricane in the East Indies. 

Among other notes in " Piddington" is one taken 
from the log of the British ship " Futtle Rozack," 
Captain Rundle, that took a cyclone in the southern 
Indian Ocean in 1843. The note relates to the 
appearance of the sea in the hurricane, and the 
description is so good that I am going to copy it 
verbatim : " I find the barometer considerably fallen, 
with an exceedingly long swell from the southward, 
and at seven a.m. a high north-northwest sea, meeting 
the southerly swell, created an exceedingly turbulent 
sea. In the squalls the sea has a strange appearance, 
the two seas, dashing their crests together, shoot up 
to an amazing height, and, being caught by the west 
wind, it is driven in dense foam as high as our tops. 

259 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

The whole horizon has the appearance of ponderous 
breakers." Later in the day, when involved in the cy- 
clone, Captain Rundle says : " p.m. wind northeast, tre- 
mendous squalls blowing with inconceivable fury ; the 
sea rising in huge pyramids, yet having no velocity, 
but rising and falling like a boiling cauldron. I have 
never seen the like before. I was in the height of 
the terrible West Indian hurricane of 1834; I have 
been in a typhoon in the China Sea, in gales off Cape 
Horn, the Cape of Good Hope, and New Holland, 
but never saw such a strange or confused sea." 

Captain Sproule, of the ship " Magellan," thus de- 
scribes it from observation in the China Sea : " I 
never saw anything equal to the sea. You could 
not say it was running from any one point, but meet- 
ing from all quarters, impinging one against the 
other and flying into the atmosphere in pyramids of 
foam, falling again on the spot whence they rose." 
So much for the state of the sea in a hurricane. 
Latitude at noon, 4° 9' north ; longitude, 90° 35' east. 

October 26 

This was another day of light winds, hot, sultry 
atmosphere, and heavy downpours of rain. We 
made but a little more than a degree of latitude, and 
in addition were driven over to the eastward by a 
northwest wind. We have reached the bay at the 
worst season for a fast run up, and we may be see- 
sawing about in the same place for days, like we did 
in the North Atlantic, except that we haven't the 
delightful, balmy atmosphere of 30° north and 40° 
west. 

260 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

The mate continues to skylark with Dan, and this 
afternoon treated him to a much-needed bath. It 
had been raining in a perfect deluge for an hour or 
so, but, as there wasn't much wind, the awning was 
set, which kept off most of the rain ; so that we could 
stay on the poop with some little degree of comfort. 
The forward end of this awning extends some dis- 
tance beyond the poop, both corners being lashed to 
the mizzen-shrouds ; and in this forward end an im- 
mense amount of water had collected, perhaps two 
barrelfuls, causing the awning to sag down in a 
great bulb. The idea occurred to the mate that this 
would be an excellent opportunity to give Dan a 
bath, of which he had long stood in need. So he 
sung out from the poop, " Dan, lay aft here a minute." 
The unsuspecting youth came shambling round the 
corner of the deck-house, and stood awaiting orders 
near the mizzen-hatch, " Nearer" said the mate. " I 
want to tell you something." So Dan marched up 
and finally stood just where Mr. Ryan wanted him, 
right under the big water-bulb that projected over 
the poop. Then, telling him to look forward at some- 
thing to distract his attention, the mate, with a quick 
motion, leaned over the poop-rail and cut the lash- 
ing of the awning. The manoeuvre was a splendid 
success. Down came the whole mass of water, some 
seventy or eighty gallons, I should think, directly on 
the head of the unfortunate youth, beating him to 
the deck and for a moment blotting him out of sight ; 
and when the water had run off, the most dismal 
spectacle I ever saw gathered itself up shivering and 
crawled forward under the bulwarks. Ten or a 

261 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

dozen of the men witnessed the affair, and each, un- 
able to control himself, exploded in a guffaw that 
brought the skipper on deck, glaring about to know 
why such a row was made. But as each man was 
busily employed and wore the countenance of a 
grave-digger, he couldn't say anything; and after 
scowling at them for a few minutes, he went below 
again. Later I heard Dan tell the cook that he 
thought we had been boarded by a heavy sea, though 
for the first few seconds he didn't know anything at 
all ; for so great a volume of water falling plumb on 
his head almost stretched him on the deck. Lati- 
tude at noon, 5° 25' north; longitude, 91° 15' 
east. 

October 27 

The heat and humidity have increased, and both 
are just as bad as they were under the line. We 
made no more than sixty-five miles of latitude and 
scarcely any longitude ; and on account of holy- 
stoning the poop, we had to keep below all day, 
which was very disagreeable. The work of holy- 
stoning is no easy one, for, the poop-deck being 
varnished, it has to be rubbed perfectly clear and 
clean before another coat is applied ; and though six 
men are hard at it, the work goes on slowly. 

We are just abreast of the southern end of the 
Nicobars, a small cluster of islands immediately 
north of Sumatra, in longitude 93° 30' east. The 
largest is only thirty miles by fourteen, the entire 
population not exceeding three hundred and fifty 
souls. Some of the islands are hilly, but most of 

262 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

them are very flat and covered with cocoa-nut trees, 
and are also noted for yams, which are produced in 
great quantities and of fine quality. The people are 
savage and have a bad reputation for piracy, trade 
being carried on by bartering. Deeds of piracy 
became so frequent that in 1870 the Indian govern- 
ment inquired into the matter and placed the islands 
under the rule of the superintendent of the Anda- 
mans, to the northward of the Nicobars. 

The only man on board who seems thoroughly 
satisfied with himself and everything else is the little 
East Indian cook. Nothing seems to disturb him, 
either the steward's temper or the length of the 
voyage. He still keeps his pots and kettles just as 
bright as he did months ago, and he is as blithe and 
good-humored as ever, after he has cleaned up the 
galley for the night, as he leans against the chicken- 
coop, tooting his little bamboo-whistles. 

That we do not sight vessels, I think, is very 
strange, for we are right in the track of steamers 
bound to and from Singapore and Colombo. I im- 
agined that we would have seen two or three a day, 
to any one of which we would have made our 
number, and to-morrow our relatives and friends 
would know that we were in the Bay of Bengal, 
within a fortnight probably of Calcutta. I fancy that 
at home they're getting uneasy about us, for we 
haven't spoken anything for many weeks, and we are 
by no means certain that those who did speak us 
reported us. In fact, I am of the opinion that the 
only vessel who has done so was the steamer we 
sighted on July 9, that hoisted an answering pen- 

263 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

nant in reply to our signals. Latitude, 6° 30' north ; 
longitude, 91° 13' east. 

Sunday, October 28 

We had no wind at all to-day till four in the after- 
noon, when we were regaled with a fresh breeze from 
north, which put us a matter of only seven points off 
our course. But a breeze of any sort is such a 
luxury to us that we grin and bear it with hearts so 
hardened that any amount of head-winds wouldn't 
make us flinch. At six o'clock we tacked ship and 
stood to the westward, the wind shortly after veering 
to north-northeast, so that finally we could look up 
to within three points of our course, — north by west. 
So our seventeenth week on board has not com- 
menced so well as it might, but we hope for a better 
ending. 

On our beam to the westward is Ceylon, the 
Earthly Paradise, as it has often been called, distant 
a little more than five hundred miles. It is the 
country above all others in the world that I have 
long wished to visit; its very name is a word to 
conjure with, and I always think of it in connection 
with cinnamon, cloves, and other Eastern spices. On 
the ocean, or eastern, side of the island are bold, 
rugged mountains and but little verdure ; while on 
the other side the tropical vegetation attains a wild 
luxuriance unequalled, probably, in any other coun- 
try in the world. The scenery about Kandy, sixty 
miles from the sea, in the heart of the mountainous 
interior, is said to be more beautiful than any 
other region yet discovered. Colombo is the capital 

264 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

and chief city, though Galle, at the southern ex- 
tremity of the islands, formerly enjoyed the position 
Colombo now holds. Trincomalee, on the east coast, 
possesses a magnificent basin, and is perhaps unsur- 
passed in beauty and security by any other harbor 
in the world. Colombo only a few years ago could 
boast of no other haven of refuge than an open road- 
stead ; but recently a huge breakwater, a mile and a 
quarter long and wide enough for four carriages to 
drive abreast over its smooth surface of dressed 
stone, was built at a cost of seven hundred thousand 
pounds, and at the present time the harbor is an 
excellent one, though small. Ceylon as a name is 
indelibly connected with pearls, probably the greatest 
pearl-fisheries in the world being conducted on the 
northwest coast, in the Gulf of Manaar. 

Enormous quantities of rain fell again to-day, and 
we had no sights at all, the dead-reckoning putting 
us in latitude 7° north; longitude, 89° 58' east. 

October 29 

We continue to make but little progress, our 
northing for the twenty-four hours amounting to 
only six miles over a degree. We also continue to 
have deluges of rain, so that one must stop below 
with ports and companion-way closed or melt on 
deck in oil-skins, — two evils between which there is 
no choice. The rainfalls are so tremendous that 
I cannot compare them to any that I ever saw 
before. I actually believe that more rain fell in 
thirty minutes about noon to-day than fell in any 
twelve hours in the Atlantic. It is simply extraor- 

265 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

dinary. In the heaviest downpours the rain falling 
into the sea sounds like a small cataract, and a dense 
spray so thick as to hide the surface of the water 
covers the sea to the depth of about a foot. My 
little scheme for preventing the entrance of water 
through the port over our bunk continues to do good 
work; though I forgot to squeeze out the towel this 
morning, and the water entered and ran down be- 
tween the mattress and the bottom of the bunk, and, 
there being no sun to dry things out, we will be 
uncomfortable till we get the northeast winds and 
bright sunshine, for which we are so longingly 
hoping. Captain Kingdon, too, is anxious for some 
bright weather, so that he can do some varnishing. 
The poop presents a very scraggy and dilapidated 
appearance ; the deck, companion-house, wheel-box, 
rail, and gratings, — every varnished object has been 
scraped, holy-stoned, and sand-papered perfectly 
clean, and the result is far from beautiful. In fact, 
the poop gives to the whole vessel the appearance 
of a weather-beaten ship laid up in the Erie Basin, 
unable to get a charter. Give us two days of fine 
weather, though, and all this will change, and the 
whole after end of the ship will glisten and shine in 
all the glory of fresh varnish and newly-polished 
brass. 

Later in the day a nice little breeze came along 
from northwest by west, and at the present moment, 
eight P.M., we are making good north one-half east. 
We ran into a long, heavy swell this afternoon set- 
ting from northwest, in consequence of which, and 
the fact that the glass is in a very unsettled state, 

266 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Captain Kingdon is watching for other cyclonic in- 
dications, for the swell shows that a hurricane, prob- 
ably of a small size, is somewhere in the bay ; and 
though the glass has not fallen enough to indicate 
that it is in the immediate vicinity, the unsettled state 
of the barometer is the cause of some uneasiness. 
Latitude at noon, 8° 6' north ; longitude, 90° 30' 
east. 

October 30 

Yesterday we completed our one hundred and 
twentieth day at sea, four months in round numbers, 
and present indications point to our sighting the 
light-ship at the Sand Heads before another week 
has passed. We are doing very well, and made 
nearly two degrees of latitude in the twenty-four 
hours. 

I have altogether forgotten to mention our list to 
port. It is due to the squall and knock-down we 
had in the Gulf Stream a few days out from New 
York. It seems strange that a cargo of tightly- 
packed wooden cases should shift ; but when a ship 
has been at sea a week or so, and has had any roll- 
ing to speak of, the cases work constantly together 
and apart, till there will be perhaps a half-inch of 
space between each case, which means a good deal 
in the full width of the vessel. Then, if she takes a 
bad knock-down, as we did, away goes the cargo to 
leeward, and there is no restowing it. Our list would 
not be visible at a glance to any one but a sailor, but 
it's none the less present, and we roll much deeper to 
port than to starboard. 

267 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

We are now approaching a group or chain of 
islands called the Andamans, remarkable in that but 
little of the inhabitants is known, though an immense 
amount of commerce passes by their door, so to 
speak. There are three principal islands, one almost 
touching the other, each about fifty miles long, North 
Andaman containing a mountain three thousand feet 
high. The inhabitants are very remarkable, and are 
considered to be as low in the human race as any 
people on the earth. For a long time it was sup- 
posed that they were cannibals, and it is reasonable 
to believe that not so very long ago they were ad- 
dicted to the practice of eating shipwrecked mari- 
ners, but it is positively denied that such a state of 
affairs now exist, by the Europeans who live on the 
islands. The people are called Oriental negroes, and 
they do bear some resemblance to the African races, 
though their hair is not kinky, nor are their lips so 
blubber-like as the African's. They are very short, 
— much under five feet in height, — and even at the 
present time both sexes go about absolutely naked ; 
and while the suspicion that they are still cannibals 
has been disproved, they even up to the present time 
continue to massacre shipwrecked crews whenever a 
vessel is unfortunate enough to go ashore in a remote 
locality. A strange fact connected with the Anda- 
maners is, that they are a very unhealthy race, 
individuals seldom reaching the fortieth year, as 
fevers and lung diseases carry off the population in 
early life. 

During the latter part of this afternoon we wit- 
nessed a magnificent rainbow ; and what is very 

268 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

remarkable, we apparently sailed right under it. It 
was an exquisite arch of color, clearly defined and 
very brilliant, and it actually extended right over 
our mast-heads, each end seeming to rest on the 
water a couple of hundred yards on either side of 
the ship. It was very impressive, and one of the 
most beautiful natural effects I ever saw. Even the 
men, indifferent as they usually are to phenomena of 
this sort, gazed in admiration at this gorgeous rain- 
bow, under whose arch we seemed to sail for fully 
seven or eight minutes. 

We have had a delightful southwest breeze all day, 
though the long northwest swell continues to run, 
and is, we are happy to say, the only indications of a 
cyclonic disturbance we have been able to observe 
since yesterday, as the glass has returned to its nor- 
mal condition. The ship has been pitching consider- 
ably all day. Latitude, io° 4' north; longitude, 90° 
15' east. 

October 31 

If any one had predicted a week ago that we 
would have had the splendid breeze that has followed 
us lately, we would have hove him overboard for 
a false prophet. We have had a fresh breeze 
for twenty-four hours from southeast, and in that 
time we made one hundred and eighty miles ! Most 
people would have called it a hot wind ; but to us, 
just up from the equator, it was comparatively cool, 
considering the four days we spent under the line. 

The sea here is wonderfully phosphorescent. Last 
night the white caps on the crests of the seas were 

269 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

beautifully spangled with tiny specks of silver, while 
our wake could be followed in a trail of light for 
fully a quarter of a mile. There is another kind 
of phosphoric light, too, that appears in luminous 
patches on the surface of the water, suddenly and in 
the most unlooked-for places. Apparently no mo- 
tion of the water is necessary to render it visible, for 
I have seen it when there wasn't a ripple on the 
ocean. It has a most uncanny look, and is, I doubt 
not, the phenomenon that Coleridge mentions in his 
" Ancient Mariner," when he says, — 

" The water, like a witch's oils. 
Bums blue and green and white." 

At noon Great Andaman bore east, distant sixty- 
five miles, and we are now only five hundred miles 
from the Sand Heads. This is the only land that we 
have approached so closely since we left except 
Trinidad, and the skipper thinks that the great rain- 
falls of yesterday and to-day and the immense masses 
of cumulus cloud piled one on the other like bales of 
cotton are due to the proximity of the Andamans 
and Nicobars. 

Speaking again of the Andamans reminds me of 
Port Blair, their capital, and the penal settlement of 
India, of which Captain Kingdon spun me a yarn to- 
day. The event that he narrated happened years 
ago, when upon one occasion the skipper had his 
brother with him as mate on a voyage from Dundee 
to Calcutta. The steward they had was a man with 
the temper of a demon, who had no more control 
over himself when enraged than a gorilla, and who 

270 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

would stop at nothing in the pursuit of vengeance. 
He had given a great deal of trouble during the 
passage, and a few weeks from Calcutta he was put 
in irons and kept there for three days. He fancied 
that the mate talked against him to the skipper (the 
mate's brother), and one day, when Captain Kingdon 
and his brother were leaning over the rail in earnest 
discussion, the steward emerged silently from the 
companion-way, tiptoed up to the mate, and in a 
second had buried the steel used for sharpening 
carving-knives up to the handle in his back, under the 
left shoulder-blade. Then without a word the devil 
turned and walked back into the cabin, where he 
allowed himself to be taken without a struggle and 
put in confinement for the rest of the voyage. The 
third day after the stabbing the skipper's brother 
died, and on the ship's arrival in Calcutta the man 
was tried, convicted, and banished for life to Port 
Blair. But of such a fearful temper was he possessed 
that when the skipper again arrived in Calcutta, after 
a trading voyage to the Celebes and Moluccas, he 
heard that his former steward had broken out of con- 
finement, killed two keepers, and had been executed 
before he had been three months in jail. A nice sort 
of shipmate. Latitude at noon, 12° 47' north ; longi- 
tude, 91° 29' east. 

November 1 

Counting from to-day, the first of the month, we 
have been four months at sea. We continue to 
make very good headway, having made precisely 
two degrees of latitude in the twenty-four hours. If 

271 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

" Palmam qui meruit, feraf' is to be observed, this day 
certainly deserves first place in point of heat. It 
totally eclipsed all previous ones. The worst of it 
was that no awning was spread owing to the varnish- 
ing of the skylight and compass-stands, and, there 
being nothing to intervene, the sun shot his rays so 
fiercely down upon us that at noon the heat and 
especially the humidity had nearly reached the limit 
of endurance. There being no shade, the deck of the 
poop was as hot as a griddle and acted in the capacity 
of a steam-radiator in the cabin ; so that in the coolest, 
airiest saloon ever built in a ship, and with every- 
thing wide-open, the heat smothered one like an in- 
creased atmospheric pressure, and this although a 
fresh breeze was blowing from southwest. I do not 
believe that it did much good, though, being satu- 
rated with moisture ; and whenever a gust came down 
the companion-way, it felt more like a breath from 
Tophet than a breeze off the blue, sparkhng ocean. 
No wonder that Europeans die in great numbers in 
the East during the rains when the southwest mon- 
soon blows. I can picture to myself the reeking 
swamps, fetid atmosphere, and stagnant pools of rain- 
water in an Indian jungle during the wet months. 

We are just at present abreast of Madras, the 
largest city on the eastern side of the Indian Penin- 
sula and the third city of the empire in population 
and importance. The situation is a very exposed one, 
there being no natural harbor at all ; though some 
defences against the inroads of the sea have been 
constructed of masonry. They were nearly de- 
stroyed, however, in the terrific hurricane of i88l, 

2/2 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

that raged over the bay with resistless violence. 
Madras seems to be chosen by nature as the particu- 
lar point against which the fury of nearly every 
hurricane in that part of the world is directed. The 
city has probably been visited by more destructive 
cyclones than any other in the East ; the wind during 
the one of May, 1 872, reaching a maximum pressure 
of fifty-three pounds to the square foot, indicating a 
velocity of about one hundred and fifteen miles an 
hour. This is, of course, far less than the speed of 
the wind during a tornado in some of our Western 
States, but the effect of a one hundred and fifteen 
mile an hour wind on the ocean may be imagined ; 
and as the roadstead was perfectly open at that time, 
the ravages of the sea upon town and shipping were 
frightful. 

We had heavy squalls all day. Latitude at noon, 
14° 47' north; longitude, 91° 26' east. 

November 2 

I forgot to mention the sad death of poor Bang, 
the skipper's Irish setter. Poor fellow ; he had been 
on his last legs ever since we ran into the hot weather 
again, and it is marvellous that he lasted as long as 
he did ; he displayed more vitality than I thought 
any of the lower animals were possessed of, having 
been on the verge of death several times. For a 
fortnight, though, he had been very low and unable 
to stand ; yet none thought he would meet his end 
so suddenly, as he had weathered so well his pre- 
vious bad spells. But at ten o'clock night before 
last, after I had gone below to turn in, the skipper 
18 273 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

having already "doused his glim," and Mr. Ryan 
having the watch on deck, I suddenly heard a most 
dismal wailing, accompanied with a shuffling of feet 
on the poop. I went on deck at once and saw that 
poor old Bang was in one of his spasms, foaming at 
the mouth and stumbling aimlessly about the deck, 
evidently in the severest agony. My wife came up 
at this moment, and both of us mounted to the top 
of the flag-locker, out of harm's way, lest the dog 
should go mad and bite one of us, the mate standing 
on the other side of the skylight with his loaded 
club in his hand. Bang was too far gone, though, 
for hostilities, and, gathering himself together, he 
began to stagger round the poop again, and it wasn't 
long before he walked off onto the main-deck, a fall 
of fully eight feet, but which didn't seem to have any 
effect at all on him. Captain Kingdon appeared just 
then and carried the poor beast up on the poop 
again, where, after a few minutes' wandering about, 
during which he would walk right into a stanchion 
or anything else in his way, as though blind with 
pain and suffering, the poor old dog walked calmly 
overboard at the stern-chocks and vanished forever. 
We all miss him ever so much, even if at times he 
was a nuisance, and it is too bad to lose him in this 
way after having nursed him to within a week of 
port. Pete ought to put a crape band on his arm, for 
the two were inseparable while on deck. 

The companion-house, rails, and deck on the poop 
have been varnished and are now dry, so that the 
awning was spread again before noon to-day. After 
dinner my wife insisted upon varnishing the gratings 

274 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

that lie one on each side of the standard compass. 
So she went to work with great gusto, only to desist 
in half an hour with a tremendous headache, brought 
on by exertion in the great heat, combined with the 
odor of the varnish. We all told her it was a very 
silly thing to do, but she would go ahead, and the 
natural result ensued. A bad headache is not a joke 
with the thermometer 89° in the coolest place, and 
without even cold water to bathe the head and face, 
for the coolest water is from the sea, and that is 
fully 85°. 

We still continue to waft along at about four knots 
over a motionless sea ; for the northwest swell has 
gone down, and nothing but the light breeze now 
disturbs the quiet surface of the bay. Latitude, 16° 
26' north; longitude, 91° 30' east. 

November 3 

More or less of a calm this morning after a squally 
night. In the early part of the evening there was 
very sharp lightning in the northeast, and a large 
number of " white heads" showed themselves, por- 
tending hard squalls. So we stowed the sky-sails 
and the awning, but got more rain than wind, the 
former coming down in cataracts. 

At nine o'clock this morning we sighted a large 
steamer bound north, and at ten another ; kept away 
and spoke the second one and asked to be reported all 
well. She was one of the British India Co.'s boats 
bound probably from Rangoon to Calcutta, and to 
us presented a beautiful appearance; the hull so 
clean and bright in comparison to our streaked and 

275 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

grimy sides. No one who never saw it can imagine 
how disreputable, as to hull, a sailing-ship is after a 
long voyage; that part of the vessel presenting a 
strange contrast to the rest of the ship, which looks 
as if she had just gone into commission for the first 
time. 

It is rather annoying to be so near port and yet so 
far, for we are not more than two hundred and fifty 
miles from the light-ships ; but we are not doing 
more than a mile and a half an hour, — a fact empha- 
sized by the steamers passing us at twelve knots and 
seeming to fly along like an express train. I went on 
deck about an hour and a half after the first steamer 
passed us, and was much astonished that she was 
not to be seen, a thin, brown smoke on the northern 
sea-line showing where she was behind the horizon. 
I had been so accustomed to look at sailing-ships for 
hours after they had passed, and finding them still in 
sight, that this sudden disappearance was quite start- 
ling. The steamer will take a pilot to-morrow morn- 
ing ; we, at any time next week. Yet I cannot say 
that I'm tired of the sea; on the contrary, I am more 
in love with it than ever. This at the end of a long 
voyage is the best proof of how fond I am of it, for 
there are not many people who, at the end of a 
passage, do not long to get ashore, though they may 
go to sea again in a month. But I am just as con- 
tented and comfortable as I was when the voyage 
began, and have not the least desire to go ashore, 
even though I am fully aware of the glories of the 
land we are about to visit. We did not undertake 
this voyage for the purpose of seeing India, but 

2^6 



A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

simply for the sake of the sea. Had the " Manda- 
lore" been bound to Valparaiso, Frisco, or Hiogo, it 
would have made no difference to us, and neither of 
us gave a single thought to the termination of the 
voyage when we towed through the Narrows and 
cast off the line that ran out over the bows to the 
little tug ahead. However, now that the end of the 
passage is close at hand, we are glad that it is to 
India we are going, and not to San Francisco. I 
have read much of the beauty and interest of this 
great empire in various magazines on board, and my 
desire to see the country has been considerably 
augmented since reading an account last evening of 
the Nizam of Hyderabad, an Indian prince who rules 
over ten million people, and who has an actual in- 
come of thirty million rupees a year, — equal to seven 
million five hundred thousand dollars, — a revenue 
that but few other individuals in the world enjoy. 

This evening we had a very sharp squall and the 
heaviest rain yet ; I think an inch and a half of water 
must have fallen in thirty minutes. Latitude at 
noon, 17° 35' north; longitude, 90° 51' east. 

Sunday, November 4 

This is our nineteenth Sunday at sea, and, bar acci- 
dent, it will be our last. We sighted another steamer 
last night bound to the southward. She presented 
a splendid appearance with every port glowing with 
light, and, to our eyes, was going very fast. She 
was, the skipper thought, one of the Apgar boats, 
bound to China, and calling at the chief ports en 
route. 

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I think this was the finest night of the whole 
voyage, the sea motionless and the temperature not 
above 84°, while the heavens glittered with splendid 
constellations, some of which were almost unnatural 
in their brilliancy. The moon rose at nine and we 
remained on deck till midnight, thoroughly enjoying 
the lovely tropical night. By thus stopping up we 
saw a phenomenon that is given to but few people 
to observe. From eleven to twelve several light 
showers fell around us, though none occurred where 
we were; and at 11.30 I saw what I took to be an 
arch of gray vapor spanning the heavens in the 
northeast. For some little time I couldn't imagine 
what it was, and at length called the skipper's atten- 
tion to it, who immediately said, " Why that's a lunar 
rainbow, and the first one I've seen for many a long 
day." Of course, no colors were visible in it to us, 
and it looked just like a band of vapor, though per- 
fectly well defined. It is a cause for great satisfac- 
tion to me that I have seen a lunar rainbow, for I 
will probably never see one again ; and while it was 
not so beautiful a spectacle as a solar rainbow, yet it 
was so unusual and odd that I will never forget its 
appearance. Latitude at noon, 18° 46' north; longi- 
tude, 90° 17' east. 

November 5 

We experienced very calm weather during the last 
twenty-four hours, and the patience of skipper and 
crew is almost exhausted. It is rather annoying to 
be within eighty miles of the light-ships and not 
move faster than a knot an hour. A little after noon 

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A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

a slight ripple was seen on the surface of the oil-like 
sea, but it died away in ten minutes and for the rest 
of the day we were " as idle as a painted ship upon 
a painted ocean." All hands forward are sick of the 
voyage. They show it in their manner of lounging 
about and in their way of going aloft. If we had a 
decent boson that would give them the taste of a 
rope's end every now and then just by way of variety, 
they'd be a different set. But our boson still chums 
in with the men and mixes with them in the fore- 
castle, instead of keeping to himself and answering 
all attempts at familiarity with a gentle tap of a 
belaying-pin. 

As we draw nearer port old Kelly's fear of the 
natives has proportionately increased, until he repeats 
his vow of never setting foot ashore as long as the 
ship lies in the Hooghly. Carson is very ugly and 
struts about the forward deck cock of the walk even 
in the presence of the second mate, who I truly 
believe is afraid of him. 

A very significant change has taken place in the 
color of the water, which has turned to a muddy 
green from its old deep blue. This means, of course, 
that we are on soundings, for the first time in more 
than four months. How strange it seems, to be in 
this dirty water, charged with the mud and slime of 
the Ganges, after so many weeks of the ultramarine 
of the open sea ! Really, I don't suppose this water 
we are in at the present moment is nearly so muddy 
and opaque as New York Bay or the Hudson River, 
yet it looks a great deal worse to us. Latitude, 20° 
4' north ; longitude, 89° 20' east. 

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A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

November 6 

At last and alas ! our voyage is nearly over. At 
seven o'clock this morning the seaman stationed for 
the purpose on the upper foretop-sail-yard reported 
a sail, and not long afterwards it was visible from the 
deck, proving to be a pilot-boat, and in another half- 
hour we raised the Eastern-Channel light-ship, about 
sixteen miles off. In a few minutes smoke was 
reported in the northwest, and in a little more than an 
hour one of the magnificent Hooghly tow-boats 
came alongside, and, after a little palavering between 
her skipper and ours, she passed us two immense 
twenty-two-inch hawsers and, going full speed ahead, 
walked off with us at nine knots, — faster than we had 
gone for many a day. We were still far out of sight 
of land, and but for the discolored water might have 
been in the bay for all we knew, the land being so 
low that it is visible only a few miles. Presently I 
caught a glimpse of a brig, which I saw at once was 
not a merchantman, and I could not make her out 
till Captain Kingdon told me she was a pilot-boat. 
Here was the first of a regular string of surprises, — 
a brig-rigged pilot-boat! Truly a novelty, I had 
never even heard of one. Yet there she was. In- 
stead of the lean, handy, fore-and-aft, seventy-ton 
schooners that I had been accustomed to at home, 
here was not a brigantine, but a full-rigged brig, 
heavily sparred like a man-of-war, with painted ports 
and immensely high bulwarks. These little ships — 
for one might call them two-masted ships — are moored 
very securely and permanently, ships being towed 
alongside of the brig instead of the latter working 

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A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

up to the ship. The only time they ever shift their 
moorings is when the cyclone parts their cables, and 
generally they are never seen again. 

Moving across the broad sweep of poop on the 
pilot-boat, I saw a number of figures clad in white 
duck and blue cloth, and this, with the great quantity 
of highly-polished brass, led me to the belief that our 
skipper must be mistaken ; for surely this is a man-of- 
war, with her heavy tops, painted ports, bright brass- 
work, and uniformed officers. In a few minutes, 
though, a large whale-boat shot from under her 
stern, pulled by eight native oarsmen, in whose stern 
was seated one of those handsomely-dressed officers. 
This in reality was the pilot, and I was more aston- 
ished at him than I was at the pilot-boat. Instead 
of a rough, seafaring man, such as one ordinarily 
meets in such a calling, a gentleman stepped over the 
side, followed by a native, whom I afterward found 
was his servant, with his master's bags and traps. 
The pilot was dressed in duck trousers, with blue- 
serge coat with gold lace and brass buttons, and well 
pipe-clayed canvas shoes. The captain introduced 
him as Mr. Tucker, and it took us not more than a 
minute to find out all about "Vigilant's" races in 
England, for Tucker had just returned from a leave 
of absence and had seen some of the matches. Poor 
" Vigilant" won only five out of seventeen races ; there 
must have been something radically wrong. I must 
say it was delightful to have some one on board 
with whom you could exchange ideas, and for the rest 
of the afternoon my wife and Tucker and I were 
engaged in an uninterrupted flow of conversation, 

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A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

It doesn't take long to get anywhere after a power- 
ful tug-boat has passed you her line, and two hours 
had not gone by before we could make out the 
feather-like tops of the tallest palm-trees, followed 
shortly after by the lofty, white shaft of the light-house 
at Saugar, where the Hooghly empties into the sea. 
By and by, on approaching closely the shore, we saw 
everywhere little else than thick jungle, conjuring up 
visions of cobras and venomous insects ; and just as 
the sun dipped we let go the starboard anchor in a 
most beautiful little bight just inside the tall light- 
house. Thus for the first time in one hundred and 
twenty-seven days the anchor touched the bottom, 
during which we sailed almost precisely twelve thou- 
sand six hundred miles. 

Before the anchor had touched bottom we were 
the centre of a ring of native boats whose occupants 
wished to sell fruit and, I dare say, rum to the sailors. 
The natives came aboard in perfect swarms, — the 
thinnest, hungriest, most beggarly crowd I ever gazed 
upon. Their legs were like jointed ramrods and 
their arms pitiful to behold ; while every one of them 
wore such a cowed expression and almost grovelled 
before you, that you were moved to throw the un- 
happy wretches all the coins you had. 

That night we frequently heard the roaring of 
tigers in the Sunderbunds, as the swampy region at 
the delta of the Ganges is called, as well as the bark- 
ing of jackals. Indeed, it is said that the best tiger- 
shooting in all India is to be found in the Sunder- 
bunds, but the density of the jungle and miasmatic 
swamps prevent the intrusion of man. Here, then, 

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the tiger dwells supreme, safe from the rifle of that 
most indefatigable of created beings, the British 
sportsman ; and here to-night I heard what I never 
expected to hear, — the roaring of the royal beast in 
his wild haunts. 

November 7 

We had to lie at our anchors till noon to-day to 
wait for the tide. The captain of the tow-boat came 
over to supper last night and invited me to breakfast 
with him at nine. Of course, I went ; and besides 
being regaled with a good square meal of broiled 
fowl, fried potatoes, good coffee, and all manner of 
fresh fruit, I saw in detail a specimen of the finest 
tow-boats in existence. The river Hooghly is prob- 
ably the most treacherous navigable stream in the 
world, and to its ever-shifting sand-bars is added a 
powerful current, varying in speed from five knots 
an hour in the dry season to nine during the rains. 
The number of sailing-ships that enter and clear 
annually is very great, Calcutta, Sydney, and San 
Francisco being the three great sailing-ship ports of 
the world. Therefore, in order to handle the im- 
mense, heavy ships in the swift current with absolute 
safety, or as near as man can get to it, the very best 
and most powerful tow-boats are necessary, and they 
must be able to go to sea in bad weather as well, the 
Sand Heads rendering navigation very dangerous, if 
not impossible, except in the channels, long before 
land is sighted, ships being often picked up as much 
as forty miles off shore. Hence, I was very keen on 
seeing one of these boats, and I was very much 

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A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

gratified when Captain Arden asked me to breakfast 
with him. The steamer was called the " Rescue ;" 
she was built of steel, with big double funnels and 
very high amidships, after the manner of the great 
White Star freighters. Forward she had fully fifteen 
feet freeboard, with about eight feet aft, and was of 
about six hundred gross tons. The " Rescue" was 
handsomely furnished, her dining-room being at 
least sixteen feet square, with beautifully tiled floor, 
and everything was in first-rate order, particularly 
the table-linen and glassware and plate. Unfortu- 
nately, I was not enough of a machinist to have 
appreciated her engines, but the engine-room and 
stoke-hole looked like bee-hives with the native 
stokers and oilers, there being forty-seven men in 
the crew all told, a large number of men being neces- 
sary to handle twenty-two-inch hawsers, as may be 
well imagined. The captain, first and second officers, 
and the chief engineer are always Englishmen ; the 
rest natives. 

At one P.M. we broke out our anchor and towed 
up to Diamond Harbor, a little more than half-way 
from Saugar to Calcutta, or about fifty miles. The 
passage up the river was charming. Extending 
away on either hand as far as the eye could see 
stretched thousands of acres of rice-fields, as green 
as new turf, while numbers of strange-looking native 
boats added a wonderful amount of novelty and 
picturesqueness to the scene. At intervals of every 
hour or so we would meet outward-bound steamers, 
some large like the British India and P. and O. 
boats ; others small and loaded to the Plimsoll mark 

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A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

with chattering, naked Hindoos journeying down the 
coast to Akyab, Rangoon, or Moulmein. 

While we were under way, from anchorage to 
anchorage, the pilot never left the deck for a moment, 
having his supper brought to him on the poop by his 
servant, thus never losing sight of the river for an 
instant. Landmarks are scattered along the river at 
frequent intervals, and range-marks are visible at 
short distances in the worst places, indicating the 
exact situation of the channel ; though the river-bed 
shifts so constantly that even these precautions can- 
not be relied upon, and boats are stationed at the 
dangerous places, with telegraphic communication 
with the city as well as Saugar ; so that, when by 
sounding any alteration in the channel can be per- 
ceived, the change can be instantly wired in either 
direction. One of the articles brought on board by 
the pilot's servant was a blackboard about three feet 
square, and a couple of chalk pencils ; we were at a 
loss to know what these things were for till I saw 
Tucker go forward on to the forecastle-head, write 
some cabalistic signs on the board, and then hold it 
high above his head so that those on the tow-boat 
could see the signal and understand the instructions 
he had written. The most experienced Hooghly 
pilots are exceedingly well paid, being in receipt of 
salaries varying from two thousand to two thousand 
five hundred rupees a month, equal to more than six 
thousand dollars per year, — a large sum in a country 
where twenty-five cents will provide as much luxury 
as a dollar will with us. 

At sunset we let go the anchor at Diamond 
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A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

Harbor, an exquisite spot, particularly lovely now in 
the mellow twilight of the tropics. Unfortunately, 
the beautiful glow lasted but a few minutes, but 
presently we had the moon riding high in the 
heavens, showing us the windings of the river bathed 
in her white, soft light. We sat on the poop till mid- 
night talking with Mr. Tucker, who gladly afforded 
us information about the best place to stop at in Cal- 
cutta and the various customs of the strange land we 
were about to visit. Just as eight bells were struck 
we went below and were lulled to sleep by the yelp- 
ing of jackals and the snoring of the pilot's servant, 
who lay asleep on deck just under our port. 

November 8 

We got our anchor at 4.30 this morning, and when 
I went on deck at seven we were not more than ten 
miles from Budge Budge, where we were to leave the 
ship, that being the place for discharging the oil, 
being about twelve miles from the city. The scenery 
along the river-banks had changed somewhat, the 
landscape being covered with clumps of bamboo and 
the beautiful date-palm growing in the midst of the 
never-ending rice-fields. In the broad reaches of 
the river, unwieldy, old-fashioned Arab barks tacked 
slowly across our bows or under the stern, giving a 
decidedly quaint aspect to the now lively river ; for 
scores of native boats and several small steamers 
were skimming about, forerunners of the traffic and 
bustle ten miles farther up. 

We had yet to pack our trunks and valises, though, 
and by the time we had finished this disagreeable job 

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A DEEP-WATER VOYAGE 

we were nearly at Budge Budge. I gave my duck 
suits to the boys and a thick pilot-coat to the mate, 
transifixing him with delight thereby; Mr. Kelly 
coming in for a half a dozen pairs of immensely 
thick socks. At eleven o'clock the heavy splash of 
the anchor told us that our long voyage was over, 
and we went about bidding a sorrowful good-by to 
the old ship and her company, not forgetting Pete, 
who is going back the same way he came out. My 
wife and I were actually loath to leave the old " Man- 
dalore," in which we had passed so many happy, 
happy weeks. As Captain Arden had offered to take 
us up to the city in the " Rescue," though, we could 
not delay, and, with a general good-by from the 
crew and a hearty hand-clasp from Mr, Ryan, who 
seemed loath to see us depart, we stepped over the 
rail and on to the deck of the " Rescue," Captain 
Kingdon accompanying us. Lying at their moorings 
at Budge Budge, I noticed, as we passed, the big 
sailing-ships " Claverdon," " Clan Buchanan," and 
" Dunfermline," the latter not far from three thousand 
tons. 

Thus ended, all too soon for me, this voyage of the 
good ship " Mandalore," that carried us so safely and 
happily across nearly thirteen thousand miles of blue 
water. May she always have a fair wind and a 
smooth sea; and may good-luck follow her genial 
skipper, whose good-nature and thoughtful considera- 
tion added so much to our enjoyment of the voyage. 

THE END. 

Electrotypbd and Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Phiuoelphia, U.S.A. 
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